''Prostheclina pallida'' 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 ...

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 ...

in the family Salticidae, native to Eastern Australia. It was described by Keyserling in 1882, and remained the only species in the genus until 2007, when six more species were described.

Description

Males have a body length of around 4.1 mm, females being somewhat longer at around 4.4 mm, with a longer abdomen in relation to the

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 ...

. Both sexes have a yellow

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 ...

, which has stronger orange markings in males. The upper (dorsal) surface of the abdomen is pale yellow with a black pattern. The lower surface of both the cephalothorax and abdomen is yellow. The legs and pedipalps are yellow, except for parts of the first leg, which are orange. The palpal bulb of the male has a simpler set of lobes on the

tegulum The two palpal bulbs – also known as palpal organs and genital bulbs – are the copulatory organs of a male spider. They are borne on the last segment of the pedipalps (the front "limbs" of a spider), giving the spider an appearance often desc ...

than other species of '' Prostheclina''.

Taxonomy

''Prostheclina pallida'' was first described by Eugen von Keyserling in 1882; it was the type species for his new genus '' Prostheclina''. Considered to be the only species in the genus from 1950 onwards, six more were added in 2007.

Distribution and habitat

''Prostheclina pallida'' is an Australian species, known from southern Queensland, inland Victoria and South Australia, where they are found at lower altitudes on both sides of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

. The genus is only found in less dry areas, typically where the rainfall exceeds 600 mm a year.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2865489 Salticidae Spiders of Australia Spiders described in 1882