Biology:Bacelarella dracula

Short description: Species of spider

Bacelarella dracula
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Bacelarella
Species:	B. dracula
Binomial name
Bacelarella dracula Szűts & Jocqué 2001

Bacelarella dracula is a species of jumping spider in the genus Bacelarella that lives in Ivory Coast and Nigeria. It was first described in 2001 by Tamás Szűts and Rudy Jocqué based on a holotype found near Appouasso. The spider is medium-sized with a plain dark brown carapace that has a length between 2.3 and 3.0 mm (0.091 and 0.118 in) and a mottled abdomen that is between 2.3 and 2.8 mm (0.091 and 0.110 in) long. The female is larger than the male. The male has a prominent tooth, which gives the species its name, recalling the fictional Count Dracula. The male also has a distinctive long prong that extends from the palpal bulb and a long embolus that curves so far that it nearly ends at its start. The female can be distinguished by its epigyne, and particularly the tight coil at the end of the copulatory openings.

Taxonomy

Bacelarella dracula was first described by Tamás Szűts and Rudy Jocqué in 2001. It was allocated to the genus Bacelarella, which itself had been first raised by Lucien Beland and Jacques Millot in 1941. The genus is named in honour of the Portuguese arachnologist Amélia Vaz Duarte Bacelar. The species is named after the character of Count Dracula from the eponymous novel by Bram Stoker. In 2008, the genus was allocated to a clade named the Bacelarella group based on DNA sequencing. This was then refined into a subtribe of the tribe Aelurillini in the clade Saltafresia.

Description

The spider is medium-sized. The male has a plain dark brown carapace that is between 2.3 and 3.0 mm (0.091 and 0.118 in) in length and 2.1 and 2.5 mm (0.083 and 0.098 in) in width. The abdomen is also dark but has pale mottling and a reddish-brown scutum. It is between 2.3 and 2.5 mm (0.091 and 0.098 in) long and 1.5 and 1.8 mm (0.059 and 0.071 in) wide. The clypeus and chelicerae are brown, and there are two teeth, one of which is particularly long, from which the species is named. The spinnerets are grey and the legs are yellow and dark brown. The pedipalps are covered in white hairs and the appendages are curved. The palpal bulb has a long dorsal prong and a curved groove which contains the long embolus that curves over so that it nearly points back to itself. This prong, along with the prominent tooth, distinguish the species from other spiders.

As is typical for the genus, the female is larger than the male. The carapace is between 2.4 and 2.8 mm (0.094 and 0.110 in) from front to back and between 2.1 and 2.3 mm (0.083 and 0.091 in) from side to side and has a pale brown band towards the thorax, which is a paler brown than the male. The abdomen has a similar mottling but measures between 2.4 and 2.8 mm (0.094 and 0.110 in) in length and between 1.8 and 2.5 mm (0.071 and 0.098 in) in width. The spinnerets are pale yellow with a dark streak and the legs are brown. The pedipalp is yellow. The epigyne has small plate towards the back and no pocket. The copulatory ducts are short and finish with a tight coil around just in front of the thick-walled and wide spermatheca. The coil, which turns entirely around, as well as swellings near the copulatory openings, distinguish the species.

Distribution and habitat

The holotype for the species was found near Appouasso, Ivory Coast in 1995. It also lives in other areas of the country, including the forests of the Cavally Region. The spider was identified near Ibadan in Nigeria in 2011, based on a specimen found in 1974.

Bacelarella dracula lives in rainforest. Like many of its genus, the species is adapted to live in areas with low lighting. However, it seems to be more active during the dry season when ambient light levels are typically higher. This is particularly the case for mating, which relies on optical cues and complex movements. It lives sympatrically with related species in Ivory Coast, including the more abundant Bacelarella iactans, after which it is the most common of its genus to be found in the area.

References

Bibliography

• Jocqué, Rudy; Szűts, Tamás (2001). "Bacelarella (Araneae, Salticidae) in eastern Côte d'Ivoire: salticid radiation in a poorly lit environment". Annales, Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Sciences zoologiques 285: 93–99. 
• Maddison, Wayne P. (2015). "A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)". The Journal of Arachnology 43 (3): 231–292. doi:10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. 
• Maddison, Wayne P.; Bodner, Melissa R.; Needham, Karen M. (2008). "Salticid spider phylogeny revisited, with the discovery of a large Australasian clade (Araneae: Salticidae)". Zootaxa 1893 (1): 49–64. ISSN 1175-5334. 
• Marusik, Yuri M.; Sherwood, Danniella (2022). "Matronymic genera in spiders (Araneae) named for arachnologists". Arachnology 19: 150–157. 
• Prószyński, Jerzy (2017). "Pragmatic classification of the World's Salticidae (Araneae)". Ecologica Montenegrina 12: 1–133. doi:10.37828/em.2017.12.1. 
• Szűts, Tamás; Jocqué, Rudy (2001). "New species in the genus Bacelarella (Araneae, Salticidae) from Côte d'Ivoire". Annales, Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Sciences zoologiques 285: 77–92. 
• Wesołowska, Wanda; Russell-Smith, Anthony (2011). "Jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from southern Nigeria". Annales Zoologici, Warszawa 61 (3): 553–619. doi:10.3161/000345411X603409. 
• Wesołowska, Wanda; Russell-Smith, Anthony (2022). "Jumping spiders from Ivory Coast collected by J.-C. Ledoux (Araneae, Salticidae)". European Journal of Taxonomy 841: 1–143. doi:10.5852/ejt.2022.841.1943. 

Wikidata ☰ Q2794353 entry