Rhene cancer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rhene cancer | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Genus: | Rhene |
| Species: | R. cancer |
| Binomial name | |
| Rhene cancer Wesołowska & Cumming, 2008 | |
Rhene cancer is a species of jumping spider in the genus Rhene that lives in Zimbabwe. The male was first described in 2008 while the female remains unknown. The spider is small, typically 4.4 mm (0.17 in) long and has a distinctive square forward section, or carapace, which is the source of its specific name, a Latin word that can be translated 'crab'. This helps distinguish it from other members of the genus, as well as distinctive its copulatory organs. Its palpal bulb is large and attached to its cymbium by a membranous haematodocha, but it is most clearly identified by the presence of a tuft of very long brown bristles on a bulge on its palpal tibia.
Rhene cancer is a species of jumping spider, a member of the family Salticidae, first described by the arachnologists Wanda Wesołowska and Meg Cumming in 2008.[1] They allocated it to the genus Rhene, which is named after the Greek female name shared by mythological figures. The specific name is derived from a Latin word that can be translated 'crab', named after the shape of the spider.[2][3]
First circumscribed in 1869 by Tamerlan Thorell, the genus Rhene is a part of the subtribe Dendryphantina in the tribe Dendryphantini.[4][5] Wayne Maddison allocated the tribe to the subclade Simonida in the clade Saltafresia in the clade Salticoida.[6] The genus is known for its good eyesight and its high level of spatial awareness, which is likely to show that it is recent in evolutionary terms.[7] The holotype is stored at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren.[8]
