Melecosa
Genus of spiders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melecosa is a genus of spiders in the family Lycosidae. Its lone species is found in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China.[1]
| Melecosa | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Lycosidae |
| Genus: | Melecosa |
| Species: | M. alpina |
| Binomial name | |
| Melecosa alpina (Marusik, Azarkina & Koponen, 2004)[1] | |
The species was first described in 2004 by Marusik, Azarkina, and Koponen as Sibirocosa alpina, then transferred into its own genus in 2015.
This spider has a body length of up to 5.75 mm and has shorter legs than other Sibirocosa species. It is distinctively marked: the front of the cephalothorax (where the eyes are located) is black with two longitudinal brown stripes; the carapace is brown with paler stripes; the abdomen is blackish with a broad brown stripe down the middle. The legs have pale rings and differ from other Sibirocosa species by having a smaller number (3 vs. 4) of ventral tibial spines.[2]
