Thrandina

Taxobox
name = "Thrandina"


image_caption =
image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Araneomorphae
familia = Salticidae
subfamilia =
genus = "Thrandina"
genus_authority = Maddison, 2006
diversity_link = List of Salticidae species#Thrandina
diversity = 1 species
range_

range_map_width = 250px
species = "T. parocula"
binomial = "Thrandina parocula"
binomial_authority = Maddison, 2006

"Thrandina" is a genus of jumping spiders, with the single species "Thrandina parocula", which is found in Ecuador. It is unique among New World salticids in having strikingly large posterior median eyes.Maddison 2006]

"Thrandina" and its sister genus "Galianora" share the ancestral salticid traits of a tarsal claw on the female palpus and a median apophysis on the male palp. This is rare among neotropical salticids. Both genera are informally grouped as "lapsiines", together with "Lapsias". However, the shared basal characteristics with "Lapsias" could be symplesiomorphic.

Males of this species are about 4 mm long. Its carapace is dark brown to black, except for a central pale longitudinal stripe on the thorax. The legs are pale to medium brown, with a darker femur I. The abdomen is medium brown with lighter chevrons above, and palew below with dark speckles. The female is slightly smaller with a bodylength of 3.6 mm. It looks like the male, but with more annulate legs.

"Thrandina parocula" was collected from moss-covered branches and tree-trunks in the understory of moist forests at elevations of 1,000 meters and higher, up to 2,270 m. Males walk fluid but hesitantly, frequently pausing and then raising and lowering.their first two pairs of legs in synchrony. A similar gait is observed in Spartaeinae.

Name

The genus is a contraction of Thranduil, the king of Mirkwood elves in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology, which, as "Thrandina", inhabit shady forests, and "andina", referring to the Andean habitat.

The species name refers to the relatively equal sizes of the lateral and posterior eyes.

Footnotes

References

* (2006): New lapsiine jumping spiders from Ecuador (Araneae: Salticidae). "Zootaxa" 1255: 17-28. [http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006/zt01255p028.pdf PDF] (with picture of male)
* (2007): [http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html The world spider catalog] , version 8.0. "American Museum of Natural History".