New Jumping Spider With Mating Plug Discovered In India: 28th Addition To Genus Stenaelurillus

New findings published in the journal ZooKeys look at the recent discovery of a little jumping spider that belongs to the family Salticidae and the genus Stenaelurillus. Discovered in the "Western Ghats" of southern India, the spider Stenaelurillus albus, along with other similar species, has a mating plug or copulatory plug that works as a paternity device.

"Mating plugs are not very unusual in the animal kingdom and their presence has been described in a number of spider families including Salticidae,"said lead study author Dr. P.A. Sebastian of the Division of Arachnology of Sacred Heart College, Kochi in India, in a news release. "However, it is interesting to note that they have been reported in only 17 species of the approximately 5800 jumping spiders described so far,"

Researchers discussed mating plugs in the female copulatory opening of both the species described in the paper. The left copulatory opening of both S. albus and S. lessertiwere also showed that it was sealed with amorphous secretions, according to researchers.

The mating plug of S. albus was more prominent and covering close to the whole area of the left copulatory opening of the surrounding female reproductive region when compared to Stenaelurillus lesserti, another similar spider with a mating plug.

Yet the discovery means big changes for the genus Stenaelurillus, which is now represented by 28 species--the majority of which can be found in Africa and the rest in parts of Asia, such as China, Nepal, Iran, Vietnam, Tibet and Sri Lanka.

All belong to the family are medium sized spiders with anterior region (prosoma) bearing two white transverse stripes on the dorsal side.

"Another notable feature of these spiders is the presence of strong bristles around the eye region in both males and females" concluded Dr. Sebastian.

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