Taxonomy

Maddisonia presently includes three Australian species: Maddisonia berbekai, M. richardsoni and M. whytei, which are known only from the male holotypes.

Description

Maddisonia spp. are very small spiders with a body length less than 3 mm. The morphology of the female is unknown. In the male, the head, viewed from above, is pear-shaped, widest behind the posterior lateral eyes. The abdomen is rounded. The legs are long, the first pair being longest. Chelicerae have a single or two-cusped retromarginal tooth (fissident or unident).

The male palps are roughly rectangular in shape, wider than long, with a heavily-built, corkscrew-shaped embolus, sometimes with a small projection at the base. There is a well-developed, long, slender retro-lateral tibial apophysis, sometimes bifurcate and in one case a second ventral, blunt apophysis.

Biology

Maddisonia is only known from its three holotypes. These were found in open forest, one in a pitfall trap, another by vacuum sampling.  

Distribution

Maddisonia is found in moderate to higher rainfall areas of south-eastern Queensland, north-eastern New South Wales and southwestern Western Australia.

References

Richardson, B.J. & Żabka , M. 2016. Salticidae. Arachnida: Araneomorphae. Canberra, Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study, at https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/SALTICIDAE.

Zabka, M. 2014. Maddisonia—a new jumping spider genus from Australia (Arachnida: Araneae: Salticidae). Records of the Australian Museum 66, 217–223.

* 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.