''Akela'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
jumping spiders (family Salticidae), consisting of three described
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
. Two of these occur in
Central and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
and the third in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
Name
The genus name is derived from
Akela, "The Lone Wolf" from
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's ''
Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...
''. Other salticid genera with names of Kipling's characters are ''
Bagheera'', ''
Messua'' and ''
Nagaina''.
Species
* ''
Akela charlottae''
Peckham & Peckham, 1896, found in Central America (Guatemala, Panama).
* ''
Akela fulva'' Dyal, 1935, found in Pakistan.
* ''
Akela ruricola''
Galiano, 1999, found in South America (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina).
References
Further reading
*
Galiano, M. E. (1989), "Note on the genera ''Admestina'' and ''Akela'' (Araneae, Salticidae)", ''Bull. British Arachnol. Soc.'', 8(2): 49-50.
External links
Diagnostic drawings of ''A. ruricola''
Salticidae genera
Spiders of Central America
Spiders of South America
Spiders of Asia
Salticidae
{{Salticidae-stub