Aelurillus is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders).
Distribution Species of the genus Aelurillus occur in the Palaearctic and Africa, with a few species known from India (A. improvisus, A. minimontanus) and Sri Lanka (A. kronestedti, A. quadrimaculatus). Aelurillus subfestivus is found in Japan.
Description Species of the genus Aelurillus are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather furry, with females often uniformly mottled sandy brown, while males are often black, sometimes with a pattern and with light, annulated legs.
Habits Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy).
A Southeast Asian species of the genus Aelurillus has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it.
They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation.
Species , this genus includes 72 species and two subspecies:
Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871) – Mediterranean Aelurillus afghanus Azarkina, 2006 – Afghanistan, Pakistan Aelurillus alboclypeus Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – Turkey Aelurillus ambiguus (Denis, 1966) – Libya Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984 – Turkmenistan, Tajikistan Aelurillus angularis Prószyński, 2000 – Israel Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Aelurillus balearus Azarkina, 2006 – Canary Islands, Spain (Balearic Is.) Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846) – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871) – Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Morocco Aelurillus bokerinus Prószyński, 2003 – Israel Aelurillus bosmansi Azarkina, 2006 – Spain Aelurillus brutus Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan Aelurillus catherinae Prószyński, 2000 – Egypt Aelurillus catus Simon, 1886 – Senegal Aelurillus cognatus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Lebanon Aelurillus concolor Kulczyński, 1901 – Greece, North Macedonia, Turkey, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Central Asia Aelurillus conveniens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Egypt, Israel, Syria Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 – Greece (Crete) Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902 – South Africa Aelurillus cypriotus Azarkina, 2006 – Cyprus Aelurillus deltshevi Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan Aelurillus desertus (Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010) – United Arab Emirates Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 – Kazakhstan, Central Asia Aelurillus faragallai Prószyński, 1993 – Saudi Arabia, Yemen Aelurillus galinae Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010 – United Arab Emirates Aelurillus gershomi Prószyński, 2000 – Israel, Jordan Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 – Greece, Turkey Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993 – Mongolia Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960 – North Africa Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002 – India Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószyński, 2000 – Israel Aelurillus khorasanicus Azarkina & Mirshamsi, 2014 – Iran Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 – Greece, Israel, Syria, United Arab Emirates Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004 – India, Sri Lanka Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 – North Macedonia, Kazakhstan Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941 – Tajikistan Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) – Greece (Crete) Aelurillus logunovi Azarkina, 2004 – Afghanistan, Pakistan Aelurillus lopadusae Cantarella, 1983 – Italy, Algeria Aelurillus lucasi Roewer, 1951 – Canary Islands, Salvages Aelurillus luctuosus (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean to Turkmenistan Aelurillus lutosus (Tystshenko, 1965) – Russia (Europe, Caucasus), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczyński, 1891 – South-eastern Europe, Russia (Europe to Central Asia), Caucasus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China Aelurillus madagascariensis Azarkina, 2009 – Madagascar Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 – Iran Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 – India Aelurillus minutus Azarkina, 2002 – Syria, Eritrea Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean Aelurillus murphyorum Azarkina, 2022 – Kenya Aelurillus nabataeus Prószyński, 2003 – Israel, Jordan Aelurillus nenilini Azarkina, 2002 – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Aelurillus numidicus (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria Aelurillus plumipes (Thorell, 1875) – Algeria, Tunisia Aelurillus politiventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Greece to Israel Aelurillus quadrimaculatus Simon, 1889 – India, Sri Lanka Aelurillus quercussuber Wunderlich, 2023 – Portugal Aelurillus rugatus (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Tanzania Aelurillus russellsmithi Azarkina, 2009 – Ivory Coast, Ghana Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982 – Italy (mainland, Sicily), Malta Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879) – Hungary Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871) – Morocco Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 – Croatia, Greece Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 – Eritrea Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934 – Japan Aelurillus thailandicus Azarkina, 2019 – Thailand Aelurillus tumidulus Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 – Iran Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China (type species) A. v. morulus (Simon, 1937) – France A. v. obsoletus Kulczyński, 1891 – Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania Aelurillus westi Azarkina & Zamani, 2019 – Iran
References
Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
Further reading Li, D., Jackson, R.R. & Harland, D.P (1999). Prey-capture techniques and prey preferences of Aelurillus aeruginosus, A. cognatus and A. kochi, ant-eating jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Israel. Isr. J. Zool 45: 341-. Azarkina, G.N. (2004): Two new species of the genus Aelurillus Simon, 1884 from Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Araneae: Salticidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 13(2): 49-52 Szűts, T. & Azarkina, G. (2002): Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 (Araneae: Salticidae). Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 94: 209-216. PDF
External links
Short description of Aelurillus (with drawings) Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 (PDF) Photographs of A. monardi Photograph of A. aeruginosus