''Aprusia veddah'', is a species of oonopid

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

of the genus ''

Aprusia ''Aprusia'' is a genus of goblin spiders in the family Oonopidae, containing eight accepted species. seven species are endemic to Sri Lanka and the other species is endemic to India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a ...

''. It is endemic to Sri Lanka.

Etymology

The specific name comes from the Vedda people, who are the indigenous people of Sri Lanka.Grismado, C. J., Deeleman, C. & Baehr, B. (2011). ''The goblin spider genus'' Aprusia ''Simon, 1893 (Araneae: Oonopidae)''. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3706: 1-21.

Description

''Aprusia veddah'' is only known from the female of the species. The females are 18.5mm long. The

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

is pale orange and broadly oval in shape. The anterior lateral eyes are the largest and circular, the posterior median eyes are oval, as are the posterior lateral eyes; the posterior eye row is procurved from the front; the anterior lateral eyes are separated by less than their radius, the anterior lateral eye and the posterior lateral eye are separated by less than the anterior lateral eye's radius, the posterior median eyes are touching, the posterior lateral eye and posterior median eye are touching. The sternum is longer than wide. They have three spines on the prolateral side of the first

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

. The

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

has dorsal scuta that are weakly sclerotized, pale orange and without a colour pattern. They cover around half of the abdomen. The epigastric scutum is weakly sclerotized, surrounding the

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

, not protruding, small lateral sclerites absent. The postepigastric scutum is weakly sclerotized, pale orange, short, almost rectangular, only around the epigastric furrow, not fused to the epigastric scutum, the anterior margin is unmodified. The abdominal dorsal scutum is relatively long. The anterior receptacle and the lateral apodemes in the internal genitalia are also relatively long and thin.

References

Oonopidae Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Spiders of Asia Spiders described in 2011 {{oonopidae-stub

Etymology

Description

See also

References