Taxonomy

Trite is a south-western Pacific genus extending westwards to Australia and New Guinea. Australia has four species: Trite concinna and T. grayi, from Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands and T. albopilosa and T. ornata from mainland Australia. However the mainland species are doubtful as the types are either lost or immature. The nearest relatives to the Australian species are likely to be in New Zealand and New Caledonia. The genus is part of an Australasian clade (Maddison et al 2008) including Abracadabrella, Apricia, Clynotis, Holoplatys, Huntiglennia, Ocrisiona, Opisthoncus, Paraplatoides, Pungalina, Tara and Zebraplatys (Maddison 2015). Further information on the genus and described species can be found in Richardson and Żabka (2017).

Description

Trite spp. are medium to large-sized spiders, ranging in body length from 5 to 11 mm. The head, viewed from above, is rounded to pear-shaped, usually widest behind the posterior lateral eyes. The carapace is high with a peak at about the level of the posterior lateral eyes. Chelicerae have a single, strongly-asymmetrical (unident or fissident) retromarginal tooth. The first pair of legs is longer than the other legs but not massive in build.

The male’s palp has a long, thin embolus arising on the distal or lateral edge of the tegulum curving slightly clockwise. The tegulum is round, sometimes bulging to the side or middle, with a weakly-developed proximal lobe. The palpal tibia has a single, short retro-lateral tibial apophysis ending in either a ‘y’ shape or a point.

The female has two epigynal atria with weakly to indistinguishably sclerotised margins. The copulatory openings are separated by some distance either side of the median line, in the anterior third. The insemination ducts travel laterally then posteriorly to rounded spermathecae. In T. concinna the insemination duct appears bulbous and a diverticulum arises from the surface of the spermatheca.

Biology

Trite concinna is found in palm bracts on Lord Howe Island. New Zealand Trite spp. have been used extensively in behavioural studies.

Distribution

In Australia, this south-western Pacific genus probably only occurs on Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands.

References

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.

Richardson, B.J. 2016. New genera, new species and redescriptions of Australian jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Zootaxa 4114, 501-560.

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.

Taylor, P.W. & Jackson, R.R. 1999. Habitat-adapted communication in Trite planiceps, a New Zealand jumping spider (Araneae, Salticidae). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 26, 127-154.

* 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.