Langona vitiosa
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| Langona vitiosa | |
|---|---|
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| A spider of the genus Langona | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Genus: | Langona |
| Species: | L. vitiosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Langona vitiosa Wesołowska, 2006 | |
Langona vitiosa is a species of jumping spider in the genus Langona that lives in Namibia. The male was first described by Wanda Wesołowska in 2006. The female has not been identified. The spider is small with a dark brown carapace between 2.2 and 2.3 mm (0.087 and 0.091 in) long and a brown-black abdomen between 1.8 and 1.9 mm (0.071 and 0.075 in). The spider has two white stripes on its carapace and a single white stripe on its abdomen, and the toothless chelicerae typical of the genus. The spider can be best distinguished by its copulatory organs, and particularly the existence of one small bump near to the sole appendage on the pedipalp tibia, which also lacks the setae that can be found on other species.
Langona vitiosa is a jumping spider that was first described by Wanda Wesołowska in 2006.[1] It was one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist during her career.[2] She placed it in the genus Langona, first described by Eugène Simon in 1901.[3] It was listed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini, both named after the genus, by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia.[4] In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines.[5] It is particularly closely related to the genus Aelurillus, after which the group is named. The different Langona species generally cannot be distinguished from each other or from other members of the group by either their colours or the patterns that appear on their bodies, but by the structure of the copulatory organs.[6] The species is named after the Latin word vitium, which can be translated fault. This refers to the lack of setae on the appendage on its pedipalp tibia, which can usually be found on spiders of the genus.[7]