Mopsus (spider)

Mopsus
Female Mopsus mormon devouring a fly, North Queensland.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Plexippinae
Genus:	Mopsus Karsch, 1878
Species:	M. mormon
Binomial name
Mopsus mormon Karsch, 1878
Diversity
1 species
Synonyms
Ascyltus penicillatus Mopsus penicillatus

Mopsus is an Australian spider genus of the Salticidae family (jumping spiders). The only species M. mormon is commonly called Green jumping spider.

Description

Male Mopsus mormon from Queensland, Australia. The 'whiskers' and 'topknot' are visible.

At 12 mm (female), this is one of Australia's larger jumping spiders, and very common in Queensland. It also occurs in New Guinea, northern New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The males are strikingly colored and decorated with long white "side whiskers", which rise to a peak surmounted by a topknot of black hairs.^[1] Females don't have the whiskers and topknot, but instead feature a red and white elegant "mask".

Behavior

This species show an amazingly complex display repertoire, in some respects similar to that of several Phidippus species (P. johnsoni, P. femoratus) and Portia fimbriata. However, this is likely to be convergent evolution. Alternative mating tactics have been described^[1], depending on the location of the female. If she is away from her nest, a type of courtship common with many other species is observed. If she is found at a nest, probing and other behaviors similar to Phidippus johnsoni occur. This second courtship seems not to depend on vision. Like many other salticids, the adult lives together with the subadult female in an adjacent nest until it matures, then mates with her inside her nest.

Name

Mopsus is a name from Greek mythology.

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Jackson 1983

References

• Jackson, R.R. (1983): The Biology of Mopsus mormon, a Jumping Spider (Araneae: Salticidae) from Queensland: Intraspecific Interactions. Aust. J. Zool. 31: 39-53. Abstract
• Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.

External links

• Green Jumping Spider - Mopsus mormon
• Photograph of M. mormon