What is it about?
We report the occurrence of the ant-mimicking jumping spider Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 for the first time from Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary, Jharkhand, India. Digital illustrations and descriptions of the spider, the female’s exuviae, and video records of a live male are also presented. The distribution pattern of M. melanocephala has not been studied in detail across India whereas its ant model, Tetraponera rufonigra Jerdon, 1851 is known to have a wide distribution. Co-occurrence of the mimic and the model implies a wider range of biogeographical distribution of these species in India.
Featured Image
Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This paper is concerned with the discovery of M. melanocephala from Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand with detailed morphological descriptions and observation on its ant model T. rufonigra. For the first time, in addition an undamaged whole body exuviae of a freshly moulted female M. melanocephala has been used here as material for morphological descriptions of this spider. Both taxonomic as well as behavioural (mimicry related) aspects have been noted. The biogeographical implications of the co-occurrence of the mimic and the model together in the same habitat has also been discussed in the Indian context.
Perspectives
Apparent from their global distribution pattern, both M. melanocephala and T. rufonigra are adaptable to multiple climatic regions. Global natural distribution of the ant model T. rufonigra completely overlaps with the reported distribution of its mimic M. melanocephala which means they follow a parallel biogeographical distribution pattern. But if we look at India (which has the largest land area among the countries falling under the habitat range of the spider and the ant), we find that the myrmecomorph is confined to only five states (including the present study) as per available reports, whereas the ant model is widely distributed across Indian Territory (24 states including Jammu & Kashmir along with Ladakh and three other union territories). Therefore, in India T. rufonigra shows a continuous distribution pattern whereas M. melanocephala shows a highly discontinuous distribution pattern. This big difference in the distribution pattern may be attributed to the gap in studies pertaining to this spider in India.
Rahul Kumar
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: New record of Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (Araneae: Salticidae) from Jharkhand, India and biogeographical implications of the co-occurrence of its ant model Tetraponera rufonigra Jerdon, 1851, Journal of Threatened Taxa, October 2021, Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society,
DOI: 10.11609/jott.7500.13.12.19753-19761.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
