Mopsus (genus)

Taxobox
name = "Mopsus"


image_caption = Female devouring a fly, North Queensland
image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
familia = Salticidae
subfamilia = Plexippinae
tribus = Sandalodini
genus = "Mopsus"
genus_authority = Karsch, 1878
diversity_link = List of Salticidae species#Mopsus
diversity = 1 species
range_

range_map_width = 250px
species = "M. mormon"
binomial = "Mopsus mormon"
binomial_authority = Karsch, 1878
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

With 12 mm (female), this is the largest jumping spider of Australia, and very common in Queensland. It also occurs in New Guinea and northern New South Wales.

The males are strikingly colored and decorated with long white "side whiskers", which rise to a peak surmounted by a topknot of black hairs.Jackson 1983] 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 , 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. The species name is probably from Mormons (see picture of male).

Footnotes

References

* (1983): The Biology of "Mopsus mormon", a Jumping Spider (Araneae: Salticidae) from Queensland: Intraspecific Interactions. "Aust. J. Zool." 31: 39-53. [http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/ZO9830039.htm Abstract]
* (2008): [http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html The world spider catalog] , version 8.5. "American Museum of Natural History".

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_spiders/GreenJumpingSpiders.htm Green Jumping Spider - Mopsus mormon]
* [http://salticidae.org/salticid/diagnost/mopsus/mormo-ph.htm Photograph of "M. mormon"]