''Myrmarachne'' is a genus of ant-mimicking

jumping spiders Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the 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 species. Jumping spi ...

that was first described by W. S. MacLeay in 1839. They are commonly called antmimicking spiders, but they are not the only spiders that have this attribute. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek ('' myrmex''), meaning "ant", and ('' arachne''), meaning "spider". This genus has undergone many changes, and is still under review as more information becomes available. In 2016, several genera were split off, including ''

Helicius ''Helicius'' is a genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Species As of May 2017, the World Spider Catalog lists the following species in the genus: * '' Helicius chikunii'' (Logunov & Marusik, 1999) – Russia * '' Helicius cyl ...

'' and the monotypic genus ''

Panachraesta ''Panachraesta'' is a monotypic genus of Sri Lankan jumping spiders containing the single species, ''Panachraesta paludosa''. It was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1900, and is only found in Sri Lanka. Until 2016, it was a synonym of ' ...

''. The genus ''

Emertonius ''Emertonius'' is a genus of spiders in the jumping spider family Salticidae. Taxonomy ''Emertonius'' was first described by George and Elizabeth Peckham in 1892. It was variously treated as a synonym of ''Myrmarachne'' or a separate genus from ...

'' was revalidated in 2018 after being synonymized with ''Myrmarachne'' for nearly thirty years.

Description

''Myrmarachne'' have an elongated

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 ...

with relatively long chelicerae that projects forward in males. The cephalothorax has a waist, and the opisthosoma often has one too. The colors can vary from black to yellow, depending on ant species it is mimicking, and can change over the course of its life. For example, one African species was observed to mimic a certain species of ants as a juvenile, and another ant species as an adult. They tend to wave their front legs in the air to simulate antennae, and many have bodies that also closely resemble ants. The genus ''

Bocus ''Bocus'' is a genus of Southeast Asian jumping spiders that was first described by George Peckham & Elizabeth Peckham in 1892. , it contains only three species, which are found only in the Philippines and Indonesia: '' B. angusticollis'', '' B. ...

'' is so similar to ''Myrmarachne'' that it cannot be distinguished without the help of a microscope.

Species

With about 80 described and many undescribed southeast Asian species, ''Myrmarachne'' is the most diverse genus of jumping spider in this region. A few species, such as the

palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

'' M. formicaria'', occur in temperate regions. it contains 185 species and three subspecies found in the tropics from Africa to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, with some species found in the New World:

Description

Species

References

Further reading