Rhene formosa is a species of jumping spider in the genusRhene that lives in the mountains of Guinea. The female was first identified in 2002 while the male remains unknown. The spider is small, with a line of white hairs on a darker brown carapace and a lighter beige and longer elongated abdomen.
Taxonomy
Rhene formosa was first identified by Charles Haddad and Wanda Wesołowska in 2011.[1] It was allocated to the genusRhene, which is named after the Greek female name, shared by mythological figures, in the family Salticidae.[2] The species name is the Latin for shapely, and recalls the body shape of the spider.[3]
Description
Only the female has been described. It has a flat, wide, dark brown carapace that is 2.2 millimetres (0.087 in) in length. The carapace is hairy, mostly covered with brown and grey hairs, but with a line of white hairs behind the first row of eyes. The abdomen is elongated and light beige, measuring 3.5 millimetres (0.14 in) in length.[3] The species is similar to the related Rhene pinguis, but differs in the design of its copulatory opening.[4] The epigyne is large and the copulatory openings are hidden.[3]
^Thorell, Tamerlan (1869). On European Spiders, Part 1: Review of the European Genera of Spiders, Preceded by Some Observations on Zoological Nomenclature. p. 37.
^Wesołowska, W.; Haddad, C.R. (2018). "Further additions to the jumping spider fauna of South Africa (Araneae: Salticidae)". Annales Zoologici. 68 (4): 903.
