Stenaelurillus albus

Stenaelurillus albus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Stenaelurillus
Species:
S. albus
Binomial name
Stenaelurillus albus
Sebastian, Sankaran, Malamel & Joseph, 2015

Stenaelurillus albus is a species of jumping spider in the genus Stenaelurillus that lives in India. It was first described in 2015 by Pothalil A. Sebastian, Pradeep M. Sankaran, Jobi J. Malamel and Mathew M. Joseph. The spider was first found in Kerala but has also been observed in Karnataka, including the Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary and Parambikulam Tiger Reserve. It prefers to live in the leaf litter found in deciduous forests. It is medium-sized, with a body length that ranges from 4.61 to 6.82 mm (0.181 to 0.269 in). The female is larger than the male. The female has a black oval cephalothorax which has a pattern of yellow bands and an oval abdomen that has yellow patches, the most pronounced three of which make a triangle shape, on a black background. The male differs in having a shiny black abdomen which has no patterns and a cephalothorax that is black with thick white stripes that mark the spider from front to back. This pattern distinguishes the species from others in the genus, including Stenaelurillus belihuloya. The sexual organs are also distinctive. The male has a brown palpal bulb that has two creamy-white markings on the rear and has a short, blunt embolus. These areas give the spider its name, from the Latin for white. The female has wide copulatory openings and small C-shaped spermathecae, and it is the latter that enables it to be distinguished from Stenaelurillus abramovi.