Euophrys omnisuperstes
| Euophrys omnisuperstes | ||||||||||||
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| Euophrys omnisuperstes | ||||||||||||
| Wanless , 1975 |
Euophrys omnisuperstes is a spider species from the genus Euophrys within the family of Spring spinning the (Salticidae), in the high layers of the Himalayas occurs. The additional species omnisuperstes from the Latin omni , alle and superstes , standing above someone , in the first description standing above all , refers to the occurrence at altitudes above the occurrence of other species.
features
Euophrys omnisuperstes is a small jumping spider. For males a total length of 3.8 mm is given, for females 3.81 and 5 mm. The color of the covered with light brown and whitish hair carapace is, of Wanless as dark brown blackish with metallic luster on the head described . On the sides of the front area of the prosoma (head area) there are long, brown hairs. The eight eyes are in three rows, the front row is bent back and lined with white and long brown hair. The medium-high clypeus is dark brown with long light brown hair. The medium-sized, strong, vertical and parallel chelicerae are brownish mottled with black, the inner edges are yellow-brown. They have two teeth (promarginal teeth) on the inner edge and one tooth (retromarginal tooth) on the outer edge. They are thinly covered with fine brown hair. The strong, short claws are dark brown. The maxillae are light brown, mottled black, whitish on the inner distal edge. There is an apophysis on its outer distal edge . The light brown labium with a whitish tip is somewhat triangular. The brownish black breast plate ( sternum ) is somewhat broad with brown points or depressions and lined with long white hair on the edges. The coxes are brownish black. The abdomen ( opisthosoma ) is black according to Wanless with two pairs of indistinct circular depressions (sigilla) and hairy with short whitish and long light brown hair. The moderately long legs, which are similarly slender with the exception of the robust pair I, are brownish, mottled black with blackish dots and studded with numerous light brown slender spines. The tarsi of pairs of legs I and II are yellow-brown with light brown hair, the palps yellow-brown and the femora towards the abdomen with black ventrally interspersed with white and light brown hair. Prosoma and opisthosoma of the animals are each longer and wide.
Dhali et al. described a West Bengal specimen as brown on the prosoma and the eye area, with the exception of the black lateral and front edges, as dark brown. The prosoma is straight, trimmed at the front end, slightly wider and U-shaped at the rear end, with white hair fluff. The head region sloping forward, flat, wider than long. There is long light brown hair on the sides. A fovea runs lengthways in the middle of the chest area . The eight pearly white eyes are each lined with white, long hair. On the thorax there is a distinct black fovea in the middle in the longitudinal direction. The maxillae are yellowish brown, the sternum yellow with light brown edges, the legs yellow. Dhali et al. describe the abdomen as creamy white with gray markings and the ventral side of the abdomen as creamy white.
The females are generally similar to the males, the female allotype being larger than the male holotype with a total length of 5 mm .
Distribution, habitat and way of life
The holotype comes from the Barun Valley (located in the Makalu-Barun National Park ) in Nepal from an altitude of 5943 m, the allotype was collected at an altitude of 5334 m. Paratypes originate from the Barun valley and from the upper Rongpu or the Rongpu valley and Tenkije in Tibet from heights between 4419 and 5943 m. A juvenile specimen collected at a height of 6705 m was in poor condition and since juveniles can often not be identified with certainty, this specimen was not counted among the paratypes. In 1975 a find was reported from Gorumara National Park in the Indian state of West Bengal .
After the first reports of small, black, immature jumping spiders on rocky scree at 6705 m altitude on the slopes of Mount Everest, there was controversy as to whether these spiders are wanderers or live there permanently. However, the discovery of adults together with small flies and springtails by Swan (1961) at different altitudes in the Himalayas clearly showed that these jumping spiders live permanently in this inhospitable environment. In the same work, Swan was able to demonstrate that this unique community is based on wind-carried vegetation and that spiders are the only predators to form the last link in this simple food chain. They feed on the insects, which in turn live on fungi and rotting vegetation. Wanless notes that the species from these altitudes are similar to the animals from temperate regions and show no obvious adaptations for life under such extreme conditions. They seem to survive the freezing temperatures because they spend the nights and occasionally sunless days in cocoons made of spider silk under the rubble.
In West Bengal the animals were collected in forest protection areas from the ground and forest litter and under stones. According to Dhali et al. the species is a frequent inhabitant of forest litter.
Research history
Euophrys omnisuperstes was observed by RWG Hingston in 1924 on the third British expedition to Mount Everest up to an altitude of 6700 meters. The specimens he collected, however, went unnoticed in the British Museum for a long time. In 1954 it was discovered that they feed on flies and springtails , which can be found up to an altitude of 6000 meters. The first systematic description from 1975 is from FR Wanless, curator at the British Museum, who also introduced the scientific name.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g F. R. Wanless: Spiders of the family Salticidae from the upper slopes of Everest and Makalu. In: Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society. Volume 3, No. 6, 1975, ISSN 0524-4994 , pp. 132-136 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c d Dhruba Chandra Dhali, Tapan Kuamr Roy, Sumana Saha, Dinendra Raychaudhuri: On two Euophrys CL Koch species new to India (Araneae: Salticidae). In: Munis Entomology & Zoology. Volume 9, No. 1, 2014, pp. 143-149 ( online ).
- ↑ Lawrence W. Swan: The Aeolian Biome. In: BioScience. Volume 42, No. 4, 1992, ISSN 0006-3568 , pp. 262-270.