''Icius peculiaris'' is a species of jumping spider in the genus '' Icius'' that lives in Ethiopia. It was first described in 2008 by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz. Only the male has been identified. The spider is small, with a

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 ...

between long and an abdomen long. The spider is similar to the related '' Icius insolidus'', although it has a longer embolus. It has a distinctive long chelicerae that sets it apart from other spiders in the genus, with one large pronounced and one hidden smaller tooth.

Taxonomy

''Icius peculiaris'' is a jumping spider was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz in 2008. It was one of over 500 species identified by Wesołowska during her career. It was allocated to the genus '' Icius'', raised by

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider taxonomist in history, describing over 4, ...

in 1876. The genus name is based on two Greek words that can be translated distinct, or special, face. The species name is derived from the Latin word for peculiar. The genus is a member of the tribe

Chrysillini Chrysillini is a tribe of jumping spider in the family Salticidae. In Maddison's 2015 revision of the family, the subfamily Heliophaninae was reclassified as a junior synonym of Chrysillini. Genera * '' Afraflacilla'' * '' Augustaea'' * '' ...

, within the subclade Saltafresia in the

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

Salticoida. Chrysillines, which had previously been termed heliophanines, are

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

. In 2016,

Jerzy Prószyński Jerzy Prószyński (born 1935 in Warsaw) is a Polish arachnologist specializing in systematics of jumping spiders (family Salticidae). He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, a long-term employee of the Siedlce University of Natural Scienc ...

split the genus from the Chrysillines into a group called Iciines, named after the genus. He stated the split was for practical reasons as Chrysillines had become unwieldy.

Description

''Icius peculiaris'' is a small spider. The male has a

that ranges between in length and between in width. The pear-shaped

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 ...

is a brown, of medium height, with short grey hairs. The eye field is darker, particularly around the eyes, which have black rings. The clypeus is low, with white and brown hairs. The long chelicerae have one large pronounced and a hidden smaller tooth. There are protruding light hairs at the base of the chelicerae. The labium is brown. The abdomen is similar in size to the carapace, between long and between wide. It is a dark brown elongated oval with a indistinct pattern made of short stripes and spots. The underside is dark with two rows of light spots. The spinnerets are light brown. The front

legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element ...

are long and reddish-brown, while the remainder are light brown. All are hairy. The pedipalps are yellow. The embolus is long and thin. The tibial apophysis, or spike, is straight and pointed. The palpal bulb is ovoid with a large semi-circular lobe with small areas of sclerotin. The species has many similarities to others in the genus, particularly '' Icius insolidus''. The palpal organs are similar, but ''Icius peculiaris'' has a longer embolus. The species is particularly distinguished from other ''Icius'' spiders by its distinctive chelicerae. The female has not been described.

Distribution

''Icius peculiaris'' is endemic to Ethiopia. The holotype was discovered in 1982 in

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian language, Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous monarchy, kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The ...

near Addis Ababa.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2294897 Endemic fauna of Ethiopia Salticidae Spiders of Africa Spiders described in 2008 Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska