Viciria, Hill, 2022

Hill, David E., 2022, Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini), Peckhamia 261 (1), pp. 1-16 : 5-9

Viciria pavesii Thorell 1877 [lectotype ♂ ♀ described by Pro;szyn;ski 1968, 1984, 2017]

Attus praemandibularis Hasselt 1893 , ♂, new synonym

Lagnus ruber Workman 1896, ♂, synonym

Eupalia rubra Simon 1899, 1903, ♂, synonym

Eupalia praemandibularis Simon 1903 , ♂, synonym

Eupalina praemandibularis Strand 1932 , ♂, synonym

Viciria praemandibularis Pro ;szyn;ski, 1984, ♂, synonym

With many recent field observations under the name Viciria praemandibularis , there is no question of the conspecificity of the male and female V. pavesii ( Figure 4 ).

second male are darker. Photographs © Nicky Bay, used with permission.

The appearance of both male and female Viciria pavesii is distinctive and their field identification is not difficult. These are relatively large salticids, with a body length near 10 mm in some cases. Both sexes have long, powerful spines on the underside of tibiae and metatarsi I and II ( Figures 7 :2, 8:1). In some males there is a crest just behind the posterior eye row of the male ( Figure 7 :1). Each paturon of the male is extended anterolaterally, far beyond the articulation of the fang ( Figure 6 :4). Legs I and II of the male are usually darker than the yellowish legs II and IV, but sometimes legs II are yellowish. The pedipalp segments are long, thin, and yellowish. In the male red scales surround the eyes and cover the ocular quadrangle, as well as most of the dorsal opisthosoma, which is very narrow and long. Females have more uniform leg coloration, well-defined orange and white to ivory stripes, to include a whitish middorsal stripe on the carapace, and several long black spots on the dorsal opisthosoma. Representative photographs of living male and female V. pavesii are shown in Figures 5-9 .

of the male varies. In some (1), legs II are dark. In others (2, 3-4) they have the lighter color characteristic of legs III

and IV. Male pedipalps are yellow, very long and thin. Photographs © Marcus F. C. Ng, used with permission.

the long spines beneath tibiae and metatarsi I and II of this male. Photographs © Shikhei Goh, used with permission.

Females nest on the underside of leaves, securing their brood with a thin fabric of silk lines ( Figures 8-9 ). Initially the female can cover the entire cluster of eggs that she is guarding. After hatching, the developing young move away from the site of the egg cluster to surrounding areas, still on the underside of the leaf and attended by the female ( Figure 9 :4-6). Some cases where a female has fed on at least one of her own eggs have been documented.

Figures

Figure 4. Two sets of paired Viciria pavesii, Singapore. Femora II of the

Figure 5. Adult male (1-4) and adult female (5-6) Viciria pavesii photographed in Singapore. Pigmentation of legs II

Figure 6. Adult male Viciria pavesii, Singapore. 4, Note the anterolateral extension of each paturon, far beyond the articulation of the respective fang. Photo credits: 1-3, © Nicky Bay, used with permission; 4-6, © Yongi Ng, used with permission.

Figure 7. Adult male Viciria pavesii. 1, Note the crest behind the posterior eye row. This character is variable. 2, Note

Figure 8. Four different female Viciria pavesii, tending their broods on the underside of a leaf. 1-3, Recently deposited eggs held by a thin silk mesh, with the female in a characteristic guardian position. 4, Female guarding a brood that is beginning to hatch. Photo credits (all modified): 1, © Albert Kang; 2, © Lim Hong Yao; 3, © Cheong Weei Gan; 4, © Goh C. Y. Richard; all posted on iNaturalist, used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

Figure 9. Female Viciria pavesii with their respective broods on the underside of leaves, Singapore. 1-3, Females with broods that have just hatched. 4-6, Females with broods that are beginning to move beyond the nest. Photographs © Nicky Bay, used with permission.