Taxonomy

Thyene is a widespread genus found in the African, Palearctic and Oriental Regions. Australia has three species, Thyene concinna, T. decora and T. longula. Until recently these species were placed in Gangus. While T. concinna is a well-known and widespread species, the others are known only from lost types. Other related and widespread genera also reaching Australia include Plexippus, Evacin and Evawes (Maddison 2015, Prószyński 2018).

Description

Thyene spp. in Australia are small to medium-sized spiders, ranging in body length from 4 to 7 mm. The head, viewed from above, is roughly rectangular to ovate with rounded sides, widest behind the posterior lateral eyes. The carapace is flat to high, peaking at the posterior median eyes. Chelicerae have a single (unident) retromarginal tooth and two promarginal teeth. The abdomen is long and narrow. The first pair of legs is longer and heavier than the others, with a ventral fringe in males.

The male’s palp has a long, thin embolus arising more or less midway on the prolateral edge of the tegulum and circling it in a clockwise direction. The tegulum is rounded, without a proximal lobe. Sometimes there is a large tegular sclerite. The palpal tibia has a single pointed apophysis.

The female has a single atrium with barely-sclerotised margins. Indistinct copulatory openings are near the lateral edges of the atrium. Insemination ducts travel posteriorly alongside the lateral edges of the spermathecae which are convoluted and multichambered.

Biology

In Australia, Thyene is found on foliage and on the ground in woodlands and grasslands.

Distribution

The genus has been found in all mainland States and Territories in areas receiving moderate rainfall.

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.

Maddison, W.P. 2015. A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology 43, 231-292.

Maddison, W.P., Bodner, M.R. & Needham, K.M. 2008. Salticid spider phylogeny revisited, with the discovery of a large Australian clade (Araneae: Salticidae). Zootaxa 1893, 49-64.

Prószyński, J. 2018. Review of genera Evarcha and Nigorella, with comments on Emertonius, Padilothorax, Stagetillus, and description of five new genera and two new species (Araneae: Salticidae). Ecologica Montenegrina 16, 130-179.

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.

Whyte, R. & Anderson, G. 2017. A field guide to the spiders of Australia. Clayton: CSIRO Publishing 451pp.

* The information sheet should be read 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.