Taxonomy

Pristobaeus is found in Australia and the southwest Pacific from Indonesia to Fiji. Until recently the Australian species, P. beccari and P. dearmatus, were placed in Palpelius which was synonymised with Pristobaeus, (Zhang and Maddison, 2015).

Description

Pristobaeus spp. are medium-sized spiders, about 7 mm in body length.  The head viewed from above is roughly rectangular with curved sides, widest behind the posterior lateral eyes. The carapace is high, with a peak at the posterior lateral eyes. The abdomen is elongate-ovate, narrowing to the rear, especially in the male.  Chelicerae have a large, single (unident) retromarginal tooth and two teeth on the promargin. The legs are long and slender, the first pair slightly stronger than the others.

The male’s palp has a short, pointed embolus arising from the distal edge of the tegulum. It follows a gentle anti-clockwise curve with an associated sclerite. The tegulum is long, with a large proximal lobe. The palpal tibia has a single, medium-sized, slender, slightly wavy retro-lateral tibial apophysis, crenulated on the interior margin.

The female has two large, poorly-sclerotised epigynal atria. The copulatory openings are located on the posterior edge of each atrium. The insemination ducts lead posteriorly down the midline then turn laterally to widely located, round spermathecae.

Biology

Specimens have been collected on the ground in rainforest.

Distribution

In Australia Pristobaeus is found in Queensland and on Lord Howe Island.

References

Davies, V.T. & Żabka, M. 1989. Illustrated keys to the genera of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 27, 189-266.

Patoleta B. 2008. Description of new species of Palpelius Simon, 1903 from Fiji archipelago (Araneae: Salticidae). Genus, Wrocław 19: 722-725.

Richardson, B.J. & Żabka, M. 2017. Salticidae. Arachnida: Araneomorphae. Canberra, Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study, at https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/SALTICIDAE.

Zhang, J. & Maddison, W.P. 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.