Phintella incerta
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| Phintella incerta | |
|---|---|
| The related male Phintella versicolor | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Genus: | Phintella |
| Species: | P. incerta |
| Binomial name | |
| Phintella incerta Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 | |
Phintella incerta is a species of jumping spider in the genus Phintella that lives in the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania. The female of the species was first described in 2000 by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russel-Smith. The spider, is small with a light brown carapace that is typically 1.3 mm (0.051 in) long and a greyish-beige abdomen, typically 1.6 mm (0.063 in) in length. The abdomen has a pattern of three stripes. The female has a distinctive sclerotized epigyne that helps distinguish the spider from other members of the genus. The male has not been identified.
Phintella incerta is a jumping spider that was first identified in 2008 by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russel-Smith.[1] The spider was named after the Latin word for uncertain.[2] It is one of over 500 species identified by Wesołowska.[3] It was allocated to the genus Phintella, raised in 1906 by Embrik Strand and W. Bösenberg. The genus name derives from the genus Phintia, which it resembles.[4] The genus Phintia was itself renamed Phintodes, which was subsequently absorbed into Tylogonus.[5] There are similarities between spiders within genus Phintella and those in Chira, Chrysilla, Euophrys, Icius, Jotus and Telamonia.[6] Genetic analysis confirms that it is related to the genera Helvetia and Menemerus and is classified in the tribe Chrysillini.[7][8]