Myrmarachne lulengana Roewer, 1965

Wesolowska, Wanda & Haddad, Charles R., 2009, Jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) of the Ndumo Game Reserve, Maputaland, South Africa, African Invertebrates 50 (1), pp. 13-103 : 61-63

Myrmarachne lulengana Roewer, 1965

Figs 115–120

Myrmarachne lulengana: Roewer 1965: 50 , fig. 42; Wanless 1978 b: 33, figs 12g, j–l, 13a–h.

Redescription:

Measurements (male/female): Carapace length 2.3/1.9, width 1.4/1.2, height 0.8/0.8. Abdomen length 2.4/2.0, width 1.2/1.0. Eye field length 0.9/0.8, anterior width 1.2/1.0, posterior width 1.3/1.1.

Male.

Colouration of body dark, almost black; eye field reticulate punctured, with brown bristles near eyes, scattered short white hairs on thoracic part of carapace; small bump behind ocular region ( Fig. 115). Chelicerae long, fang with small protuberance ( Fig. 116). Abdomen dark brown, with sparse short white hairs on dorsum; venter dark; spinnerets brown. Legs slender, orange brownish with darker femora and brown lines along lateral sides; tibia of first leg only with single ventral spine. Pedipalps dark; tibial apophysis robust, wide at base, hooked at tip, with well developed flange, protected by depression in cymbium and tuft of long bristles on proximal edge of cymbium ( Figs 117, 118).

Female.

Shape of body and colouration similar to male. Epigyne with two widely separated pouches ( Fig. 119); internal structure with rather complex receptacles ( Fig. 120).

Material examined: 1^2 imm. Crocodile Farm, Pongola R. floodplain, 26 ° 54.426'S: 32 ° 19.185'E, A. xanthophloea bark, 20.vi.2005 (NCA 2008/628); 1^Eastern shore of Shokwe Pan, 26 ° 52.516'S: 32 ° 12.407'E, A. xanthophloea bark, 24.i.2006 (NCA 2008/1866); 1ơ Southern shore of Hotwe Pan,

26 ° 52.730'S: 32 ° 18.452'E, A. xanthophloea bark, 10.vii.2004 ( NCA 2008 /638); 1^South-western shore of Banzi Pan , 26 ° 53.118'S: 32 ° 16.927'E, A. xanthophloea bark, 23.i.2006 ( NCA 2008 /1852); 1ơ 1^ 26 ° 52.464'S: 32 ° 16.050'E, subtropical bush, A. nigrescens woodland, beats, foliage, 8.xii.2000 ( NMSA 21867 ) .

Distribution: Species distributed in Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya; recorded for the first time from South Africa.

Habitat and biology: Two specimens of this species were collected from foliage on ST, and several from fever tree bark in AX. This species closely resembles M. laurentina in general appearance, and may also be a mimic of Camponotus ants.