World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:02890

Chrysilla Thorell, 1887 - Thorell 1887

Middle-sized (body length 3.2–7.2 mm) unidentate, sexually dimorphic spiders. Carapace profile sloping down directly behind the eyes in a straight line. Chelicerae in males simple, elongated and sometimes divergent, in females parallel. In males, leg I dark and longer than the others, other legs pale, in females all legs pale and leg I proportional; both sexes with some black rings on leg IV. Spination of legs: femur I-IV with 1-1-1d, tibia I and II with 2-2-2 v or 2–2-2-1 v, metatarsus I and II with 2-2 v in both sexes; in C. lauta ventral spines on tibia I and II very strong, in other Chrysilla species front legs usually not so strongly armed. Abdomen in males about 1½ – 2 times longer than carapace, in female shorter and more rounded. The dorsal pattern is variable between species.

Chrysilla can be distinguished from other chrysillines by the following set of characters: 1) – body colour: live specimens are conspicuously coloured in patterns of white, black, red, iridescent blue or green; in specimens kept in alcohol, the red colour rapidly disappears. Similar colours are also found in Siler Simon, 1889; 2) – clypeus: Chrysilla lauta Thorell, 1887, C. volupe (Karsch, 1879), C. deelemani Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold, 2010, and Proszynskia Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2019 lack a bunch of long white setae and have only dark metallic scales on the clypeus (in life), whereas a white bunch on the clypeus is characteristic for Phintelloides. However, the description of Chrysilla acerosa Wang & Zhang, 2012 is provided with numerous colour photos, one of which clearly shows bundles of white flattened setae in front of the AME; 3) – thorax margins: in Chrysilla and Siler semiglaucus, both sexes have the thorax sides lined by a narrow strip of iridescent scales (Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019, fig. 21A; Yamasaki et al. 2018, fig. 11), whereas Phintelloides and Phintella have a wide band of white flattened setae along the margin of the thorax in both sexes; 4) – abdomen: in all known Chrysilla species, males have a long, cylindrical abdomen, about three times longer than wide and clearly narrower than the carapace, sometimes with a dorsal scutum covered with colourful iridescent scales. In the field, the species can be recognized by their colour pattern. In females, the abdomen is notably shorter. By contrast, the male abdomen in Phintella and Phintelloides is shorter and more rounded, occasionally with something like a scutum; 5) – cymbium length: in Chrysilla and Phintelloides the slender palp has a long cymbium cap (cc) with parallel sides, measuring more than half the bulbus length. This contrasts with Phintella, which has a cc of less than half the bulbus length, and Siler, which has a short cc that protrudes only barely beyond the tip of the embolus; 6) – embolus: in Chrysilla the embolus proper (ep) is thin and filiform as in Phintelloides; in Phintella and Proszynskia the ep is short and sclerotized, rigid and conical or acuminate, never filiform; in Siler the embolus is conical; 7) – embolar tegular branch (etb) is present in males of Chrysilla and in Phintelloides scandens and most probably also in the Phintelloides species from India and Sri Lanka; it is long, slender and flexible; the tegulum is like a fingerless glove with movable thumb; in Phintella, Proszynskia and Siler, the etb is absent, t­he embolus-bearing part not separate, the tegulum is rigid like a trowel 8) – tegular lobe (pl) and tegular bump: in Chrysilla and Phintelloides the lobe is broad and rounded (Fig. 1), or shallow as in P. scandens (Fig. 14a, b, c, d, e); in Phintella and Siler it is triangular/funnel-shaped; in Proszynkia it is expanded and broadly rounded; all species have a bump on the tegulum, traditionally present in all chrysillines, usually in the middle or in the proximal half of the tegulum; 9) – palpal colour: in Chrysilla, palp segments are contrasting, with different segments exhibiting different combinations of dark and white. The dark segments look iridescent blue or black in photos of live specimens; this seems to be a­ reliable character for species identification. In Phintella and Phintelloides, palps are uniformly coloured, or all pale with dark cymbium; in Siler semiglaucus specimens, the femur, patella and tibia have various shades of buff or grey (in life probably blue or green), the cymbium is pure white as in Chrysilla; 10) – epigynal structure: Chrysilla and Phintelloides have a similar structure, deviating from all related genera: the lateral copulatory opening is vaguely defined (except in C. deelemani), the entrance section to the copulatory ducts is a large atrium, usually funnel-shaped like an opened birds beak, leading through a conspicuous, U-turn section with swollen parietal walls (bnc) (not swollen in C. deelemani and C. scandens) in transition to the vertical section of the copulatory ducts (cd) which are tubular and rigid. In Phintella, the copulatory opening is normally marked with a rigid ring, usually but not always positioned anteriorly (Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: figs 33F, 36C). In Chrysilla, the middle, U-shaped section is often described as a birds’ neck (bnc), with a beak (atrium); spermathecae are situated near the posterior edge of the epigyne, they are round or reniform as in Phintella and relatively small; in Phintella the ducts are straight or curved and of various lengths; in Siler the copulatory opening is hidden in an anterior hood, the copulatory ducts are very short. The posterior epigynal margin is chitinized and provided with a pair of shallow pockets in most chrysilline genera.

Seven Chrysilla species have been recorded from South and Southeast Asia with specimen records from the following countries: Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and southwest China. In addition, two species are recorded from tropical Africa, and one from Australia.

Chrysilla species are sexually dimorphic, and preserved specimens appear substantially different compared to living animals. This led to much confusion about the identity of the genus. It was more than a century after the first description of Chrysilla that males and females were associated (Caleb et al. 2018, Wang and Zhang 2012). Live animals of the different sexes exhibit different patterns and colours in both carapace and abdomen (Fig. 2; Caleb et al. 2018, Koh et al. 2022, Wang and Zhang 2012). Ten species are currently catalogued (World Spider Catalog 2024); with the description herein of the previously unknown female of C. deelemani Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold, 2010, five Chrysilla species are known from only one sex. Chrysilla doriae Thorell, 1890 (male, Sumatra), has a palp which is typical for Phintella species and the species probably is a synonym (CDR personal observation of holotype). The holotype of Chrysilla delicata Thorell 1892 (female, Sumatra; not Myanmar, contra World Spider Catalog 2024) was very recognisably illustrated (Prószyński 1984: 69), together with the palp of a syntopic male "Icius glaucochira Thorell, 1890." Later, the male Phintella conradi Prószyński and Deeleman-Reinhold 2012 was described from another (but likely conspecific) male specimen from Sumatra. Recently, Kanesharatnam and Benjamin (2019) established Chrysilla jesudasi Caleb & Mathai, 2014 as the type species of the new genus Phintelloides.

Chrysilla in many ways resembles and has been repeatedly confused with Phintella Strand, 1906 (Żabka 1985). A series of phylogenetic analyses of chrysilline salticids found Phintella and Phintelloides to be closely related, possibly in a clade with Proszynskia and Icius; Chrysilla is somewhat distantly related from these genera, and more closely related to Siler (Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019). Conflict within the Kanesharatnam and Benjamin (2019) study derives from analytical permutations of morphological and DNA sequence data under parsimony and likelihood optimality criteria. The absence of conspicuous bright colours makes species of Phintelloides look superficially like Phintella species. Nevertheless, the morphological and functional copulatory characters are substantially similar in Chrysilla and Phintelloides, and distinct from those in genera such as Phintella and Proszynskia.

Our diagnosis can be expressed in simple words: genus Chrysilla and Phintelloides share their reproductive engine (copulatory organs) but are enveloped in a different coat; black, white and yellow setae in Phintelloides, red body colour in life and iridescent scales with black and white in Chrysilla. Involving more chrysilline genera: the “Chrysilla coat” is more widespread and also is characteristic for other chrysilline genera, such as Siler, Cosmophasis and Orsima, whereas the specialised “Chrysilla engine” is shared between Chrysilla and Phintelloides, but remarkably is also present in the genus Bristowia, a genus Maddison (2015) provisionally placed in the Hasariini.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:032753

Chrysilla lauta Thorell, 1887 - Thorell 1887: 378 (spider catalogue of Roewer 1955 erroneously cites p. 387) (m), type locality: Bhamo, Myanmar; Prószyński 1976: 154, fig. 237 (m); Prószyński 1983a: 44, figs 4-6 (m); Żabka 1985: 210, figs 81-82 (m) Vietnam (synonymy with Cosmophasis longiventris); Koh 1989: 103 (m, photo) Singapore; Song and Chai 1991: 14, fig. 2 (m) Hainan; Song et al. 1999: 507, fig. 290N-O (m) Hainan, Myanmar, Vietnam; Prószyński and Deeleman-Reinhold 2010: figs 36-37 (m); Koh and Ming 2013: 180 (m, photo); Prószyński 2018: fig. 5G (m); Yamasaki et al. 2018: 27, figs 2-24 (mf) Taiwan; Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: 46, figs. 19A-E, 20A, B (mf) Sri Lanka; Koh and Bay 2019: 216 (m, photo); Peng 2020: 75 fig. 35a-b (m); Koh et al. 2022: 347 (mf) Singapore.

Cosmophasis longiventris Simon, 1903 - Simon 1903a: 732 (m) Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Philippines.

Male. Total length from Singapore 7.1 mm and 4.2 mm, from Banting 4.3 mm. For differences with C. volupe, see under that species. Colouring of carapace, abdomen and palps see chapter “coloration in various chrysilline species”. Carapace with all red areas in live specimens bare and lacking setae and scales, remains of small iridescent particles visible on the anterior transverse bars. Chelicerae slanting, divergent in the large male, parallel in both smaller males (Fig. 3b). Legs I longest, dark with white contrasting band apically on tibia, other legs pale, femur I dorsally with some long thin white setae in alcohol, violet in life, leg IV with some dark rings. Abdomen long, thin and shiny and gradually tapering. In all 3 available males, dorsum black and shiny, central band with round iridescent scales uninterrupted all through, at 2/3 of the length with a bell-shaped area with small round white iridescent scales; sides with a pair of narrow strips bearing small round green reflecting scales; venter pale brown, a median pale band bordered by a pair of dark bands. Coxae dorsally with white flattened setae. Palps (Fig. 1), tibia and cymbium pale, strongly contrasting with dark femur and patella (blue in life). Proximal part of tegulum with ventral bulge (Fig. 1a: tb) and a tegular bump (Fig. 1a: tbu) as in C. volupe. Embolar tegular branch (Fig. 1a: etb) narrow and elongate, flexible, proximally articulating at basal, hidden part of tegulum (cf. Fig. 1c: beb), partly running alongside tegulum and projecting distally beyond retrolateral part of tegulum containing the sperm duct loop over distance p (Fig. 1a: p); embolus filiform, slightly flexed at base, length same as p.

Measurements (Singapore: Kent Ridge). Body length 7.10. Carapace 2.70 long, 1.80 wide, 1.15 high. Abdomen 4.30 long, 1.20 wide. Leg I 7.70 (2.50 [0.70 wide] – 1.10 – 1.90 – 1.50 – 0.70), leg II 5.20 (1.60 [0.45 wide] – 0.80 – 1.20 – 1.00 – 0.60) leg III 5.00 (1.50 – 0.70 – 1.00 – 1.30 – 0.50) leg IV 6.60 (1.80– 0.70 – 1.60 – 1.70 – 0.80). Palp 0.9 – 0.5 – 0.5 – 0.7 width cymbium 0.3.

Female (Genting). Colour photos of live females (Yamasaki et al. 2018: fig. 16, Koh et al. 2022: 347) show parts of carapace covered with white setae and abdomen with pattern of red, white, black and iridescent greenish spots with considerable variation between specimens. In the only female specimen available to us (Fig. 3c), iridescent scales as seen on carapace of males are lacking and green colour is lost. Chelicerae with parallel sides, promargin with one distal tooth, retromargin with two distal teeth. Legs all pale. Abdomen with few iridescent scales suggesting a vague dorsal pattern, lateral patch consisting of reddish procumbent hair, posteriorly a pattern of dark areas covered with simple black setae as in males, these are visible in several reversed V- arranged bars on posterior half of abdomen; venter as in males. Epigyne similar to that in Phintelloides jesudasi, except spermathecae not touching and halfway twist in copulatory ducts as in P. jesudasi, absent in C. lauta.

Measurements. Body length 5.0. Carapace 1.90 long, 1.30 wide, 0.95 high. Abdomen 3.00 long, 2.00 wide, 0.80 high. Measurements of legs: I 4.05 [1.40 (0.40 wide]– 0.60 – 1,00 - 0.65 – 0.40) leg II 3.00 (1.00 [0.30 wide]– 0.50 – 0.70 – 0.50 -0.30), leg III 3.30 (0.90 – 0.50 – 0.70 – 0.50 – 0.70) leg IV 4.20 (1.20 – 0.50 – 1.00 – 0.90– 0.60).

The species has been cited from Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Borneo, Taiwan, China and Sri Lanka (Fig. 6). The type locality Bhamo, Myanmar is situated close to the western border of southern Yunnan in a large mountain massive/complex across the Burmese - Chinese border, about 60 km from the Xishuangbanna tropical Botanical garden. This area has been extensively explored for spiders in the first decade of the 21th century in primary and various kinds of disturbed forest. Unfortunately, no Chrysilla species have been reported from that project.

In forests and gardens, usually by beating/sweeping shrub and trees, from lowland up to 600 m.

The contrasting colouring of the male palps: dark femur and patella, pale tibia and cymbium was already mentioned by Thorell, 1887 in the description of the type specimen from Bhamo in northeastern Myanmar. It is consistently present in the material studied for the present paper.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:035559

Attus volupe Karsch, 1879 - Karsch 1879: 552 (m) Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

Chrysilla sp. - Prószyński 1984: 19 (m) Bhutan (according to Żabka 1988: 465).

Siler semiglaucus (Simon, 1901) - Prószyński 1985: 73, figs 16-17 (f, misidentified according to Caleb et al. 2018: 144) Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

Phintella volupe (Karsch, 1879) - Żabka 1988: 465, figs 122-125 (m); Caleb and Mathai 2014: 64, figs 15-23 (m) India.

Chrysilla volupe (Karsch, 1879) - Caleb 2016: 271, India; Thumar and Dholakia 2018: 2, figs 1-6 (m) India; Caleb et al. 2018: 144, figs 1-25 (mf) India; Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: 49, figs 20C-F, 21A-E, 22A-D (mf) Sri Lanka; Magar et al. 2020: 4, figs 4-6 (mf) Nepal.

Additions to the description of the male (Leersia). Abdomen in alcohol with middle band slightly paler than lateral areas, as in lauta ornamented with some gold reflecting scales and anteriorly areas with black setae; venter as in lauta. All legs dark, tarsi mostly light. Male palp (Fig. 7): femur, patella and tibia and basal half of cymbium brown (blue in life), distal half of cymbium white. Measurements. Body length 3.40 (smaller then described specimens from India), carapace length 1.40, width 1.00, height 0.60. Abdomen length 2.00 width 0.55. Palp femur 0.60, patella 0.20, tibia 0.15, cymbium length 0,60, width 0.20. Chelicerae not diverging. Leg I 3.70 (1.10 [width 0.35] – 0.40 – 0.80 - 1.10 – 0.30), legs II lost, leg III 2.60 (0.70 – 0.40 - 0.50 – 0.60 – 0.40), leg IV 3.30 (1.00 - 0.30 – 0.70 – 0.90 – 0.40).

Female (Tissamaharama). No abdominal pattern distinguishable in preserved specimen (Fig. 8c; Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: fig 22A). Live animals with mottled black, red, and iridescent blue (Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: fig 22A; Caleb et al. 2018: figs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12). Copulatory ducts longer than in C. lauta, length 1½ x diameter of spermatheca, in anterior half running adjacent and parallel to each other (Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: fig. 20E, F); in C. lauta ducts length not much more than 1 diameter of spermathecae and curved over whole length (Fig. 4b, c, d).

This species is similar to C. lauta. The carapace as in C. lauta, the dorsal abdomen pattern is distinctive, in life with an anterior iridescent green band followed by a wide M-shaped band in red, behind which another red band with green in between, distally an iridescent black/violet tail (Fig. 2, Caleb et al. 2018: figs 1-12); this pattern may be preserved or lost in alcohol. Male palp with several features that can be used for identification. In C. volupe (Fig. 7), the palpal tibia and basal part of cymbium are darkish, (blue in life), white in C. lauta; the dorsal margin of rta is more slender and smoothly curved, in C. lauta it is somewhat wider and dorsally slightly undulating. This latter key character agrees with drawings of a palp of the type specimen of C. volupe from Sri Lanka by Żabka 1988 (figs 122, 124), but not when comparing with Prószyński's palp drawing of “Chrysilla” sp. from Bhutan (Prószyński 1984: 19), which was interpreted as this species by Żabka 1988: 466). In female C. lauta all legs are uniform pale, in female C. volupe legs are pale with a few black rings on leg IV.

Sri Lanka, India, Bhutan, Nepal. Caleb and Mathai 2014 (p. 64) erroneously cite Burma among the distribution records (Caleb et al. 2018). In addition, the online biodiversity monitoring community iNaturalist.org has research grade records from Bangladesh and Myanmar. 

Foliage and dry leaf litter.

Male C. volupe spiders have been seen moving their palps up and down continuously and waving their long thin abdomen in circles up in the air, exhibiting large white light-reflecting spots.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:043594

Chrysilla deelemani Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold 2010 - Prószyński and Deeleman-Reinhold 2010: 159, figs 30-35 (m) Indonesia. 

Male. No photo exists of a live specimen. The ornamentation of the abdomen with bands and stripes of coloured scales in alcohol is basically similar as in the other Chrysilla. The species can be diagnosed by the long thin abdomen with dark dorsum with thin pale undulating strip in the middle, somewhat similar as in lauta and also present in females (Fig. 8d; Prószyński and Deeleman-Reinhold 2010: fig. 31), and the broad distally rounded tegulum. Carapace all brown, whole ocular area and rear part of thorax with small round bluish iridescent scales in both male and females, across anterior eye row and around AME a transverse band of white flattened setae and a patch of similar setae behind AME; white moustache b­elo­w the AME lacking in both male and female, marginal strip on thorax thin, marked with iridescent scales. Chelicerae in male slightly diverging distally. Leg I dark, leg II – III pale, leg IV pale with dark metatarsus. Abdomen thin and elongate, shiny and dark with a brown area on sort of dorsal scutum; central dorsal band and a pair of narrow lateral strips covered with green-violet iridescent scales, as in Chrysilla lauta. Venter covered all over with greenish scales. Palp white except dark base of femur, origin of ep from etb obliquely prolateral (Fig. 9a). 

Female. Total lengths 3.20 - 3.40 mm. Dorsal pattern on carapace (Fig. 8d) with white flattened setae and tiny round green iridescent dots, predominantly on rear slope of thorax. Legs I-IV uniform pale. Abdomen brown with interrupted pale central band and a pair of parallel lateral strips (Fig. 8d) covered with elongate golden iridescent setae, rest of dorsum with dispersed white flattened setae; venter with short white hair. Epigyne (Fig. 9d) with slender copulatory ducts distally curved ventralwards showing copulatory openings; atrium short and wide, crescent-shaped, parallel to the anterior epigyneal margin.

Measurements. Male carapace 1.80 long, 1. 20 wide, abdomen 2.7 long, 0.95 wide. Legs lost. Palp femur 0.85, patella 0.24, tibia 0.26, cymbium 0.70, width cymbium. 0.20. Female, total body length 3.20, carapace 1.30 long, 1.0 wide, 0.6 high. Abdomen 1.5 long, 1.0 wide, epigyne 0.25 wide 0.25 high. Legs: femur I 0.8, femur II 0.7, femur III, 0.7 femur IV 0.9.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:04527

Phintelloides Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2019 - Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: 20.

Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019 (p. 22) diagnose the genus as follows: male with white tuft of flattened setae on the clypeus; white diamond-shaped mark behind the eye field; prosoma with pale yellow/white transverse band behind AME; abdomen with blackish or brownish grey, longitudinal median band bordered by pale yellow bands (or devoid of markings). In addition, they noted the presence of a comparatively long embolus in males; the apical portion of the bulbus with a lamellar process (although this is absent in some including P. jesudasi, P. brunne, and P. scandens, CLD); and the bird’s-neck-shaped diverging curves at anterior margin of epigynum. Furthermore, Phintelloides have white belt markings on the lateral prosoma, the leg I slightly robust in males, and male pedipalps featuring a small posterior lobe and a long RTA with a bent tip. Females have black patches on the eye field and surrounding PME, behind PLE, and on the posterior slope of the prosoma. In the female genitalia, CO oriented laterally outwards; CD medium-to-very long and bent or twisted; spermatheca pyriform or spherical.

We consider the above diagnosis difficult to interpret from a defining point of view. Several of the listed character states are not compared to that in related genera and some are not valid for all species. Diagnostic somatic characters for the genera involved can be found above in the diagnosis section for the genus Chrysilla, where different states of 10 main cognitive characters between Chrysilla and related genera are summarized. Here we restrict ourselves to adding a few aspects we consider useful. In female Phintelloides species, carapace pattern allegedly is distinctive viz. black and white pattern with 3 pairs of black eye spots (Fig. 10a, c). Indeed this character is found in females of P. jesudasi, P. arborea and P. flavumi but not in P. brunne, P. flavoviri or P. orbisa, or the species described below, P. scandens sp. nov. A similar pattern is also found in females of Phintella piatensis Barrion and Litsinger 1995, and it possible that this species fits in the genus Phintelloides. In males, the basal part of etb seems to be attached dorsally and is hidden underneath the tegulum; this can only be ascertained by probing the palp manually. Epigyna with a bird’s neck curve (bnc) are, unlike any other salticid genus except Chrysilla, suggestive of a specialised copulatory system.

A “white moustache” turns up seemingly at random in various chrysilline genera and is inconvenient as a tool when identifying genera. In Phintelloides scandens sp. nov. males it is lacking (Fig. 15a), although females have a tuft of white setae in front of the AME (Fig. 15b).

Phintelloides versicolor and P. munita are morphologically at the edge of the genus because the copulatory organs deviate from all other species by the following characters: the tegulum is undivided and distally bulgy and rigid, the prolateral margin is concave in ventral view; the tegular proximal lobe (pl) is broad and round, the filiform embolus is shorter than that in all known species of Phintelloides and at the base curved over 90°. Females of >versicolor and munita are distinct from other related species by the pair of characteristic black curled marks on white background on the rear part of the carapace (Fig. 17b, e). Furthermore, these females are quite distinct from those of Phintelloides and Phintella by the straight copulatory ducts directed anteriorly and, the absence of the bird’s-neck-shaped curves the absence of the atrium; the opening is connected to a single pair of transverse, horizontal hood-like folds running parallel to the anterior edge of the epigyne.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:051095

Phintelloides flavumi Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2019 - Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: 35, figs 3, 10A-D, 14A-F, 15A-E, 16A-D (mf) Sri Lanka.

Additions to the description. Female. The total length of our female is similar to that given for the type specimen, however the legs in our specimen are 50% shorter than the legs measured in the type specimen; the posterior legs are longer than the anterior legs unlike the type material. The underside of the abdomen has small iridescent scales, like scandens. Fig. 11a, c shows the vulva, cleared in clove oil, viewed from ventral and ventrolateral. The bird’s neck-shaped curve tilts in ventral direction. The funnel-shaped openings (Fig. 11c) are the atrium (a), the copulatory opening is at the bottom of the funnel. As in Chrysilla. the atrium is delineated by an upper and a lower projection of the duct wall suggesting an opened birds’ beak. In male P. flavumi, according the description the embolar tegular branch is shorter than the adjacent tegulum; this would agree with the concept that during copulation, the bird’s beak (the atrium) lodges the tip of the etb and swallows the embolus through the copulatory opening whereas the more anteriorly situated cavity on the inner birds’ neck curve (Fig. 11d: ibc) is spatially correctly situated to receive the tegular tip and at the same time fix the base on the posterior pocket (see sketch of P. scandens, Fig. 1c). Measurements. Total length 4.50, Carapace 2.0 long, 1.65 wide, 1.00 high. Abdomen 2.50 long. Legs: I 3.75 (1.15– 0.65 – 0.85 - 0.60 – 0.50), leg II 3.70 (1.15– 0.60 – 0.90 – 0.55 -0.50), leg III 4.30 (1.40 – 0.60 – 0.90 – 1.00 – 0.40), Leg IV 4.30 (1.50 – 0.55 – 0.85 – 0.90 – 0.50), palp 0.70 – 0.60 – 0.30 - 0.35. Epigyne 0.25 wide, 0.30 long.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:047200

Chrysilla jesudasi Caleb & Mathai, 2014 - Caleb and Mathai 2014: 63, figs 1-14 (mf) India.

Phintelloides jesudasi (Caleb & Mathai, 2014) - Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: 41, figs 3, 6E-H, 17A-E, 18A-D (mf) Sri Lanka; Caleb 2020: 15739, figs 17E-G, 29B (mf) India.

Originally described by Caleb and Mathai (2014) as a species of Chrysilla, Kanesharatnam and Benjamin (2019) established the genus Phintelloides for this and a few simliar species with jesudasi as the type species. Phylogenetic analysis based on both morphological and molecular data generally supported the monophyly of this group, with the exception that Phintelloides versicolor did not always cluster with the rest of the genus (see treatment of Phintelloides versicolor). 

MALE. Total length males 4.30 - 5.40 mm. Holotype: carapace dark brown with white tuft between and behind AME eyes and black protruding setae hooding AM eyes (Fig. 15a), area between and behind PME and between AME and ALE covered with short white setae, intermitted with protruding brown setae; in posterior half of thorax centre a pale narrow longitudinal stripe (Fig. 12a) instead of a diamond-shaped white area in other known species. Posterior margin of thorax with appressed black setae, opposite front edge of abdomen bearing brushes of dark erect hair in the middle, white on sides as in females (Fig. 12a, c), reduced or lost in some specimens. Chelicerae long, divergent (Fig. 12b), medially slanting. Maxillae distally widened with angular tip and a toothlike sub-tip. Leg I with dark femur, tibia and metatarsus dark with one or more pale rings; legs II-IV pale with narrow dark rings around the joints and femora with prolateral dark lengthwise stripes, tibia I and II with 2 pairs of ventral spines, metatarsi I and II with one pair at base (Fig. 12a). Abdomen gradually tapering, dorsally with wide buff coloured central band (colour in live specimens unknown), covered with very small scales, on either side a wide lateral band covered with white scales (Fig. 12a); venter covered with big round to triangular buff to brown scales and flanked by a pale area with some sparce very small iridescent scales (Fig. 12b). Pedipalp with base of palpal femur dark, rest light, patella and tibia white, cymbium dorsally dark except base and tip (Fig. 14b). Tip of etb extends slightly beyond tip of sperm duct loop (Fig. 14a, c). Embolus relatively short (e.g., compared to P. jesudasi, Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: fig. 18A). 

Measurements. Total length 4.80. Carapace 2.20 long, 1.50 wide, 1.10 high, chelicerae 0.8 long, abdomen 2.50 long, 1.10 wide. Legs: I 4.90 (1.50 long [0.40 wide] – 0.70 – 1.20 – 0.90 – 0.60, leg II 3.80 (1.10 [0.30 wide] – 0.50 – 0.80 – 1.00  – 0.40) leg III 4.00 (1.20 [0.30 wide] – 0.50 – 0.80 – 0.90 – 0.60 leg IV 4.40 (1.40 [0.35 wide)]– 0.50 – 0.90 – 1.10 – 0.50. Palp -0.7 – 0.3 – 0.25 – 0.6, width cymbium 0.25.

FEMALE. Paratype. Carapace paler than that of male, head pale, lacking white area in eye region, but with bunch of white setae on clypeus. Anterior eyes surrounded with white hair, a white moustache is present below the front eyes (Fig. 13c). present. Femur I with a prolateral and retrolateral dark longitudinal stripe, a prolateral one on leg II and III and none on femur IV (Fig. 13a). All legs with black rings at base and tip of the patella and tibia. Abdomen pale, dispersed with brownish scales, mostly on the sides (Fig. 13d). Venter uniform pale, very small iridescent scales (Fig. 13b). Palps uniform pale. Epigyne (Fig. 13) similar to C. lauta and C. volupe, spermathecae considerably larger, touching, “bird’s neck” short and thin and lacking a twist; outer margin (ora) of bird’s beak reaching down till 2/3 of spermathecae. In dorsal view, upturned fertilization ducts pointing to each other with acute tip behind are visible behind spermathecae (Fig. 13d). For hypothetical illustration of copulatory mechanics, see Fig. 16.

Measurements. Paratype. Total length 4.50. Carapace 1.90 long, 1.30 wide, 1.10 high, abdomen 2.75 long, 1.72 wide. 1.42 high. Legs: I 2.90 (0.90 [0.35 wide]– 0.50 – 0.60 - 0.50 – 0.40) leg II 2.55 (0.80 ([0.25 wide] – 0.35 – 0.55 – 0.45 – 0.40), leg III 3.00 (0.95 – 0.40 – 0.60 – 0.70 – 0.35) leg IV 3.80 (1.15 – 0.50 – 0.75 – 0.90 – 0.50).

Males of P. scandens differ from most Phintelloides species by the absence of a white tuft on the clypeus in front of the AME in males (Fig. 15a). The thorax in males has a narrow white V-shaped strip in the middle instead of a diamond-shaped white area in other species. The female carapace (Fig. 12c) has markings similar to the male and unlike the characteristic pattern of P. jesudasi. The male abdomen (Fig. 12a), has a wide dark median band on the abdomen between a pair of yellow lateral bands as in P. jesudasi and in P. versicolor. The female abdomen pattern is the reverse of that in males (Fig. 12c). The structure of the male and female reproductive organs are generally similar to those of C. lauta and P. jesudasi. The male can be distinguished by differences in the colour of palpal segments, and by the form of the etb, which is longer and more slender than in P. jesudasi and fairly uniform in width, running alongside the tegulum over most of its length (Fig. 14c); the embolus has the same length as that in jesudasi, the proximal tegular lobe is smaller. The female wears a narrow bunch of white setae on the clypeus (Fig. 15b); epigyne lacks the widening of the bird’s-neck, the atrium is smaller and narrow, the ora (outer rim) is clearly longer; the spermathecae are round and larger than in any other species of the genus, with a diameter equal to the length of the ducts (Fig. 13).

From the Latin word scandere, to climb, referring to the fact that all known specimens were collected by fogging tree canopies.

Known from two locations in Sabah Province, northern Borneo. In the Kinabalu area, recorded from secondary forests near Sorinsim adjacent to primary forest. At Keningau, in isolated disturbed young secondary forest patches 10 and 20 years old.

World Spider Catalog: urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:035557

Plexippus versicolor C. L. Koch, 1846 - Koch 1846: vol. 13: 103, fig. 1165 (m) Bintan [Bintang] Island, Indonesia.

Attus versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Walckenaer 1847: 426. 

Maevia picta C. L. Koch, 1848 - Koch 1848: vol 14: 72, fig. 1328 (f; juv m according to Thorell 1891) Bintan [Bintang] Island, Indonesia.

Chrysilla versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Thorell 1891: 117 (mf; synonymy with Mevia picta) Indonesia (Bintang, Sumatra), Malaysia (Pinang), Singapore; Workman and Workman 1894: 10, pl. 10 (mf) Indonesia (Pinang, Sumatra, Bintang), Singapore; Simon 1901: 544; Żabka 1985: 211, figs 83-96 (mf) Vietnam.

Telamonia leucaspis Simon, 1903 - Simon 1903b: 307 (m) Sumatra. syn. nov.; Prószyński 1978: 336, fig. 11 (m).

Phintella leucaspis (Simon, 1903) - Bohdanowicz and Prószyński 1987: 112, figs 214-215 (m). 

Phintella versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Prószyński 1987: 152, 161 (in part).

Phintelloides versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: 22. 

Both male and female with flattened white hair on clypeus, in males just a small moustache below AME (Fig. 17c), in females with frontal strip of thick white flattened setae over whole carapace width (Fig. 17d); anterior eye region with patch covered with white setae, thorax with wide broad submarginal band with dark edge (Fig. 17a), in live specimens black with 2 white central patches and several small ones (Koh et al. 2022: 437). In alcohol tiny greenish iridescent pits on head in male and female. In males, legs I dark, with a light ring on tibia, metatarsus and tarsus, other legs pale; in females, legs and palps pale (all these features are also mentioned in the original description of leucaspis by Simon 1903b, here synonymized with versicolor). Abdomen dorsally with elongate black and white scales, side all white, venter in both sexes partly covered with white appressed flattened setae. Male palp pigmented on trochanter and base of femur, rest white; female palps all white. Epigyne of female (from Thailand) with slender, almost straight ducts (Fig. 18c, e).

Measurements. Total length: males Banting 6.30 and 4.40, males (Sam Roi Yot N. P.) 4.70 in mm, , Chiang Mai 5.00. Male Sam Roi Yot: total length 4.70, carapace 2.30 long, 1.80 wide 1.30 high, abdomen 2.30 long, 1.20 wide; palp 0.80 – 0.35 – 0.30 - 0.60, width cymbium 0.23.

The abdomen in males is easily recognizable by the dark central band flanked by a pair of lateral white bands (yellow in life; Fig. 17a, Koh et al. 2022: 437), in reverse to that in most Chrysilla and Phintella species and similar to Phintelloides scandens; this is a reliable character also valid in material preserved in alcohol. This feature apparently is expressed in the latin name: reversal of pale and dark. The shape of the white central area on the thorax is variable in shape and width (compare Fig. 17a from Thailand with Koh et al. 2022: 437 from Singapore). Just like in representatives of Chrysilla and Phintelloides, the embolus is filiform and relatively short, straight and then slightly curved and bent near the base at an angle of 90° with the retrolateral distal edge of the tegulum (Fig. 19a). For a difference in tegulum see diagnosis of munita. Females differ from males by the different carapace, having a pair of black semi-rings on a light background on the posterior part of the thorax; they differ in abdomen pattern which is dorsally pale with irregular cinnamon-brown blotches and a central white band (Fig. 17b; Koh et al. 2022: 437). Epigyne (Fig. 18a, c, e): the copulatory duct is uniform in diameter, parallel, at the anterior end the ring-like copulatory opening in a 90° inward bend, the outer edge is prolonged as a fold or rim; the left and righthand folds are directed mesally, relatively short, the tips crossing. See P. munita for differences with that species. 

Sumatra, Bintang Island, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam.

The previous generic assignment to Phintella of this species is doubtful, as the embolus does not conform to the definition of that genus (see for example Żabka 1985: fig. 403), nor of Phintelloides (see for example Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019: fig. 18A). But despite the generic ambiguity, Phintelloides versicolor is difficult to distinguish from its close relative Phintelloides minuta, particularly based on the male copulatory organ. Phintelloides minuta was removed from synonymy with P. versicolor without argumentation (Prószyński 2016; https://salticidae.pl/salticidae.php?adres=specimen.php?id=12129), and in lieu of justification this has not been adopted by World Spider Catalog (2024). However, we agree with the validity of both species and shall try to provide the missing arguments. 

This species complex is a taxonomic snake in the grass. In the various papers listed, the identity of this species is full of contradictions. Prószyński (2017), in his pragmatic classification, used this species as the representative of the genus Phintella; this is misleading. The World Spider Catalog (2024) cites 62 taxonomic treatments of P. versicolor. The species including its synonyms has been placed in 11 different genera over nearly 175 years. Recently, it was assigned to Phintelloides (Kanesharatnam and Benjamin 2019, p. 22). The genus assignment of versicolor through 130 years has commuted between Chrysilla or Phintella by authors with authority (Simon, Zabka, Song, Prószyński) which suggests that the species fits in neither of them satisfactorily. 

Koch’s description of the male from a small islant between Singapore and Sumatra is mostly an enumeration of colours of the various body parts: black, white, and yellow, and the central abdominal band rusty red, which also fits our specimens. He mentioned that the female is unknown, but described one two years later as Maevia picta from the same locality. Then, starting in the 1970s, records attributed to this poorly known tropical species stated to appear from Japanese localities on the latitude of southern Europe (Yaginuma 1977, Prószyński 1973). Prószyński (1973) was the first to provide detailed drawings of the male’s genital organs, in a paper on salticid type specimens from Japan present in the Berlin Museum. He stated that he found the male type specimen of Koch’s “Plexippus” versicolor from Bintang Island as well as male and female specimens labeled Hasarius versicolor Koch from Japan (the latter name combination does not appear elsewhere in the taxononmic literature; World Spider Catalog 2024). In the description, Prószyński (1973) focused on the colouration and the abdomen pattern and apparently decided for some reason that the specimens from Sumatra and Japan are conspecific. No female was available from Bintang. Genitals, male and female, he drew from Japanese specimens only (Prószyński 1973, figs 1-7).

Twelve years later, in the magnificent work by Żabka (1985) on Salticidae from Vietnam appear excellent drawings of a male palp by Prószyński of the alleged holotype of versicolor (Żabka 1985, figs 91, 92) side by side with Zabka’s drawings of versicolor from the same specimen, but apparently opposite pedipalp; Żabka 1985, figs 88-90) along with a specimen from Vietnam (Żabka 1985, figs 83-86). Prószyński’s 1973 identification of versicolor from Japan was followed by Yaginuma (1977) and since then a number of authors cited, re-described and illustrated males and females of versicolor from various material from Japan and China. It has to be admitted that the morphology of palps from the Malay and Japanese specimens is very similar, and warrants further comparative study. However, as is the case also in certain other chrysilloid genera, it is the females that express their identity more clearly than do males by differences in structure in the epigyne. The drawings of the epigyne from Vietnam (Żabka 1985, figs 93-95) differ consistently from those from the Japanese specimens, and better agree with that from specimens we collected in Malaysia and Thailand, representing versicolor. In Bohdanowicz and Prószyński (1987), the latter author presented illustrations of the palp of Phintella leucaspis (Simon) from Sumatra (figs 214, 215), which looks identical to drawings of tropical Southeast Asian versicolor specimens and apparently leucaspis is a new synonym of versicolor. Although Japanese specimens according to drawings of palpal structure can hardly be distinguished from that of specimens from Bintang Island, Sumatra, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, the epigynes drawn from Japan, China and Hong Kong (e.g., Fig. 18b, d, f; Zhu and Zhang 2011, fig. 362a, b; Prószyński 1973, figs 6, 7) are incompatible with female specimens from the Malay Region, which have not been figured in detail previously (Fig. 18a, c, e). The population represented in Japan and China cannot be maintained in versicolor; the oldest name available is munitus Boesenberg & Strand 1906, which name we propose to remove from synonymy.

The World Spider Catalog (2024) erroneously lists Maevia picta as Maevia picta C. L. Koch 1846: 72; it should be C. L. Koch 1848: 72 (Brignoli 1985).

Removed from synonymy with Phintelloides versicolor

Jotus munitus Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 - Bösenberg and Strand 1906: 334, pl. 14 fig. 374 (f) Japan; (m, plate 14 fig. 392, see Phintella linea (Karsch, 1879), Prószyński 1987: 161); Yaginuma 1955: 14; Yaginuma 1960: 107, fig. 89.5 (f) Japan; Lee 1966: 55, fig. 28d-f (f) Taiwan; Yaginuma 1971: 107, fig. 89.5 (f) Japan; Yin and Wang 1979: 32, fig. 13A-E; Hu 1984: 370, fig. 386.1-6. 

Chira albiocciput Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 - Bösenberg and Strand 1906: 366, pl. 13, fig. 311 (m) Japan.

Aelurillus dimorphus Dönitz & Strand, in Bösenberg and Strand 1906: 398, pl. 9, figs 125-126 (mf) Japan; Saitō 1959: 147. fig 203a-e. 

Jotus munitus chinesicus Strand, 1907 - Strand 1907: 569 (f) China.

Dexippus davidi Schenkel, 1963 - Schenkel 1963: 446, fig. 255a-e (m) China. 

Dexippus tschekiangensis Schenkel, 1963 - Schenkel 1963: 449, fig. 256a-e (f) China.

Chrysilla versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Prószyński 1973: 98, figs 1-7 (mf) Japan; Yaginuma 1977: 398, Japan (synonymy with Jotus munitus); Song 1982: 102 (synonymy with Dexippus davidi).

Icius munitus (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) - Wesołowska 1981a: 59, figs 34-36 (f) North Korea.

Icius tschekiangensis (Schenkel, 1963) - Wesołowska 1981b: 135, figs 27-30 (f) China.

Phintella davidi (Schenkel, 1963) - Prószyński 1983b: 6.

Phintella tschekiangensis (Schenkel, 1963) -Prószyński 1983b: 7.

Phintella versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Prószyński 1983a: 44, fig. 3 (m) Japan; Prószyński 1983b: 6; : 231, f. 129.1 (mf); Yaginuma 1986: 161; Song 1987: 288 (mf); Maddison 1987: 103, figs 7-8; Prószyński 1987: 152, 161 (in part); Bohdanowicz and Prószyński 1987: 113, figs 210-213, 216-221 (mf) (partim); Matsumoto 1989: 125, fig. 1E, J (m); Chikuni 1989: 149, fig. 12 (mf); Feng 1990: 202, fig. 177.1-4; Chen and Gao 1990: 191, fig. 243a-b (mf); Chen and Zhang 1991: 290, fig 303 (mf); Peng et al. 1993: 162, figs 569-576 (mf); Zhao 1993: 411, fig. 212a-c (mf); Zhao 1995: 1128, fig. 553a-c (mf); Maddison 1996: 330, fig. 17 (m); Song et al. 1997: 1738, fig. 50a-c (f); Song et al. 1999: 539, figs 308O-P, 309F-G, 328E-F (mf); Hu 2001: 403, fig. 256.1-3 (m; correction, see notes below); Namkung 2002: 616, fig. 43.60a-c (mf) South Korea; Cho and Kim 2002: 120, figs 58, 163-164, 272-273 (mf); Namkung 2003: 620, fig. 43.60 (mf); Ono et al. 2009: 572, figs 140-143 (mf); Zhu and Zhang 2011: 497, fig. 362A-D (mf); Yin et al. 2012: 1429, fig. 779a-h (mf); Kim and Lee 2014: 113, fig. 81A-E (mf); Prószyński 2017: 15, figs 4B, 5C-D (mf); Prószyński 2018: 26, fig. 5H (mf); Peng 2020: 308, fig. 221a-h; Chen et al. 2021: 295, fig. 6A-C.

Phintella paminta Barrion, Barrion-Dupo & Heong, in Barrion et al. 2013: 25, fig. 27A-C (f).

Phintelloides versicolor (C. L. Koch, 1846) - Lin et al. 2023: 513 (synonymy with Phintella paminta). 

Tentatively, judging from drawings of Prószyński and Zabka, the rta seems less slender at the base in munita than in versicolor; furthermore, there could be a difference in shape of the retrolateral lobe of the tegulum, which arises retrolaterally alongside the down-turned branch of the U-bend of the sperm duct, versus from the distalmost tip of the U in versicolor; also the embolus is slightly stouter and bent directly at the base. The single female examined has a carapace ornamentation similar to that in versicolor; the abdomen wears ventrally numerous elongate iridescent setae. In live specimens, differences in carapace and abdomen decoration pattern probably do exist, including local variations. The epigyne is distinctive: copulatory ducts are stouter than in versicolor (Fig. 18c, e) and diverging (Fig. 18d, f), the transverse folds running from the outer edge of the copulatory openings continue as an uninterrupted fold or bar all across the anterior edge of the epigyne (Fig. 18d, f). We have not been able to examine a male of this species.

Japan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea.

The World Spider Catalog (2024) erroneously indicates that the treatment of this species in Hu (2001) is based on the female; it is in fact based on the male.