Print Fact SheetBarraina Richardson, 2013

  • Aspects of the general morphology of Barraina anfracta


  • Palp morphology of Barraina infracta and B. melanoros


  • Epigyne morphology of Barraina anfracta

Taxonomy

Barraina has six Australian species Barraina anfracta. B. abbedar, B. banyabba, B. melanoros, B. occidentalis and B. pilata. The genus is part of a distinct group of Australian genera (Maddison et al. 2008) related to the Old World genus Saitis (Zhang and Maddison 2015). Barraina is closely related to Hypoblemum, Jotus, Maratus and Prostheclina. Further information on the genus and described species can be found in Richardson (2013, 2022) and Richardson and Żabka (2023).

Description

Barraina spp. are small spiders, body length less than 3-5 mm. The head, viewed from above, is rectangular with rounded sides, widest behind the posterior lateral eyes. The carapace is high, peaking at the posterior median eyes. Chelicera have a single (unident) retromarginal tooth and two promarginal teeth. The abdomen is rounded. In males it is much shorter than the cephalothorax and may have a distinct dorsal scute. The short legs differ little in size.

The male’s palp has a thin, short to medium-length embolus arising on the distal or prolateral edge of the tegulum. This follows quite different courses in different species.  The tegulum has an obvious proximal lobe. The palpal tibia has a retro-lateral tibial apophysis varying in shape from short and blunt to medium length, heavily built and hooked at the tip.

In the female, the epigynal atria may or may not have strongly-delineated guides. The copulatory openings vary in position, depending on the species. From these openings the insemination ducts follow species-specific, complex curves to join the median edges of the spermathecae. The relatively large spermathecae are round or pear-shaped and adjacent to the epigastric fold. The large entrances to the fertilization ducts are placed near the anterior edges of the spermathecae.

Biology

Barraina spp. are found in litter in habitats ranging from  rainforest to woodland .

Distribution

Barraina occurs widely across the wetter parts of eastern mainland Australia and near Perth in Western Australia. They have not been collected in Tasmania.

References

Richardson, B.J. 2013. New unidentate jumping spider genera (Araneae Salticidae) from Australia. Zootaxa 3716, 460–474.

Richardson, B.J. 2022. Additions to the euophryne jumping spider fauna (Araneae Salticidae) of Australia. Zootaxa 5141, 249–269.

Richardson, B.J. & Żabka, M. 2023. Salticidae. Arachnida Araneomorphae. Canberra, Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study, at https//biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/SALTICIDAE.

Zhang, J. and Maddison, W. (2015). Genera of euophryine jumping spiders (Araneae Salticidae), with a combined molecular-morphological phylogeny. Zootaxa 3938, 1-147.

* The information sheet should be interpreted in the context of the associated diagrams and photographs. Diagrams explaining anatomical terms can be found in the ‘Salticidae’ pictures at the beginning of the list of genera.