''Rhondes flexibilis'' is an

endemic species 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 ...

of jumping spider 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 ...

Rhondes ''Rhondes'' is a genus of New Caledonian jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1901. It was briefly considered a synonym of '' Hasarius'', but was revalidated after the results of a 2008 molecular study. It is now grou ...

'' that lives in New Caledonia. First described in 2016 by Barbara Patoleta, the species is common across the island, living in

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s. It is small and slender, with a wide brown hairy

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 ...

and thinner

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. ...

that has a pattern of light and dark patches. The male, which is slightly larger, has a variably-shaped sclerite on the

palpal bulb 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 descr ...

, after which the species is named. The female has a slightly less distinctive abdominal pattern and an

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. ...

with a relatively long and narrow pocket.

Taxonomy

''Rhondes flexibilis'' was first identified in 2016 by Barbara Patoleta. The

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 ...

was named after shape of the sclerite on the

, which is quite variable. The

'' was raised in 1901 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, ...

for

of jumping spiders in

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

. It has been placed in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Viciriini 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, ...

Astioida. Genetic analysis confirms that it is related to other species found only on the island, including ''

Trite ignipilosa ''Trite'' is a genus of jumping spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1885. Most of the 18 described species occur in Australia and New Zealand, with several spread over islands of Oceania, one species even reaching Rapa in French Polynesi ...

'', and not as closely related to the genus ''

Heliophanus ''Heliophanus'' is a genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Most of the almost 170 described species occur in Africa, with many others found in the Palearctic region from Europe to Japan. Species , the World Spider Catal ...

'', and other members of the

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'' * '' ...

tribe, as was originally suggested. The fact that the species on the island are both closely related to each other and genetically distinct from those found off the island is used as evidence of the evolution taking place after the breakup of

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

Description

The spider is one of five members of the genus described by Patoleta in 2016. Small and slender, it has a shape that is typical of the genus, with a wide

, thinner

, very large chelicerae and very long

endite The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plur ...

s. The cephalothorax is dark brown, with a covering of white scales, which measures long and wide in the male and long and wide in the female. The

is grey-brown with sparse brown hairs. The male's abdomen measures long and wide and has light and dark patches. The female has an abdomen shorter with less contrast between the patches. The chelicerae, endites and clypeus are all light brown, as are the pedipalps in the male. The embolus is long and thin, although shorter than the related ''

Rhondes atypicus ''Rhondes atypicus'' is an endemic species of jumping spider in the genus '' Rhondes'' that lives in New Caledonia. First described in 2016 by Barbara Patoleta, the species has been found on both Grande Terre and Isle of Pines, living in rain ...

''. The female has an

with a narrow and relatively long pocket.

Distribution and habitat

''Rhondes flexibilis'' was first identified from specimens, which included the male

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 ...

and female allotype, that were found around

Mont Panié Mont Panié is a mountain on the island of Grande Terre in New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France located in the south-west Pacific Ocean. At , it is the island's highest point. Mont Panié is situated in the Chaîne Centrale mountain ...

on Grande Terre, New Caledonia. They had been collected in 1911 by

Jean Roux Jean Roux (March 1876, Geneva – 1 December 1939) was a Swiss herpetologist. He studied at the University of Geneva, completing his doctoral thesis in 1899. His early research involved studies of protozoa, and following post-doctoral work in ...

and

Fritz Sarasin Fritz Sarasin, full name Karl Friedrich Sarasin (3 December 1859 – 23 March 1942) was a Swiss naturalist. He was a second cousin of Paul Sarasin.Coan E. V., Kabat A. R. & Petit R. E. (15 February 2009)''2,400 years of malacology, 6th ed.'', ...

. It has also been seen in many other

areas around the island, and is predicted to have a distribution across the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

. Despite the existence of similar environments on other islands across the Pacific Ocean, there is no evidence of the species in any other locale, and so it 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 New Caledonia.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27439974 Spiders of New Caledonia Salticidae Spiders described in 2016