''Eburneana magna'' is a

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 ...

jumping spider Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family (biology), family Salticidae. As of 2019, this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all sp ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

'' Eburneana'' that mimics ants. It is a large spider, as is emphasised by the species name, the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for big, with a body that can be up to in length, although only the female has been identified and in other species in the genus the male is larger than the female. The species has been identified from a

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

found in Ivory Coast.

Taxonomy and etymology

''Eburneana magna'' is a

that was first named by

Wanda Wesołowska Wanda Wesołowska (born 11 August 1950) is a Polish zoologist known for her work with jumping spiders. She has described more species of jumping spider than any contemporary writer, and is second only to Eugène Simon in the history of arachnolog ...

and Tamás Szűts in 2001. It is one of over 500 species identified by Wesołowska. It is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the

'' Eburneana'', one of many of spiders that mimics ants. The genus is named for ''Litus Eburneum'', the

Latin name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

for Ivory Coast, where the species was first identified. The species name is the Latin word for big, in reference to the relatively large size of the spider. In 2015, the genus was added to the subclade Saltafresia in the clade

Salticoida Salticoida is an unranked clade of the jumping spider family Salticidae. It is the larger and more widespread of the two subdivisions of the "typical" jumping spiders (subfamily Salticinae), occurring effectively world-wide. Its sister clade is ...

based on the analysis of 8 genes. In 2017, it was added to the supergroup Hylloida by Jerzy Prószyński.

Description

''Eburneana magna'' is a large spider, with a very flat body measuring up to in length. Only the female has been described. The

has a dark brown, almost black,

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

that looks extended and is long and wide. It is covered with short grey hairs. 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. ...

is also elongated and measures long and wide. While all examples are relatively large, the male of the genus is generally even larger than the female. For example, the male of the related species '' Eburneana scharffi'' has a carapace that is between longer than the female. The spider is distinguished from other members of genus by a large number of spigots on its

spinneret A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...

and the structure of

epigyne The epigyne or epigynum is the external genital structure of female spiders. As the epigyne varies greatly in form in different species, even in closely related ones, it often provides the most distinctive characteristic for recognizing species. ...

. It shares some similarities with other ant-mimicking jumping spiders, particularly the males that have front legs that are similar to members of the family Pelleninae.

Distribution

''Eburneana magna'' is the only member of the genus that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Ivory Coast. The only example identified to date was a single female specimen found on Mont Tonkoui in

Tonkpi Tonkpi Region is one of the 31 regions of Ivory Coast. Since its establishment in 2011, it has been one of three regions in Montagnes District. The seat of the region is Man and the region's population in the 2021 census was 1,387,909, predominant ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2260288 Endemic fauna of Ivory Coast Salticidae Spiders of Africa Spiders described in 2001 Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska