Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs SpidersAustralian Golden Orb Weaver Australian Huntsman Spiders (Sparassidae) Backobourkines Banded Garden Spider Beautiful Badge Huntsman (Neosparassus calligaster) Cytaea sp Desert Huntsman Spider Elegant Water Spider (Dolomedes facetus) Hackled Orb-weavers Hortophora sp Long-jawed Orb Weavers Long-tailed St. Andrew’s Cross Spider Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae) Miturgidae (Elassoctenus spp) Red-headed Mouse Spider Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti) Wall Spider (Oecobius sp)
The genus Cytaea belong in the family Salticidae, a group commonly known as the Jumping Spiders.
Cytaea spp. are small to medium-sized spiders, ranging in body length from 3 to 9 mm. The cephalothorax is rounded, widest behind the posterior median lateral eyes. Some species are brightly coloured with colours changing between localities to match the substrate.
Source: A Key to the genera of Australian Jumping Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)3
The specimen pictured here is currently identified to the genus Cytaea, discoverred in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Salticidae
- Genus: Cytaea
- Species:
- at time of writing, iNaturalistAU currently list 39 named species
Footnote & References
- Cytaea sp, Photographs © Fin J Bowles
- Many thanks to Autumn Lai for ID, member of Australian spider identification page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/australianspidereducation
- Cytaea Keyserling, 1882, A Key to the genera of Australian Jumping Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae), https://apps.lucidcentral.org/salticidae/text/entities/cytaea_keyserling_1882.htm
- Cytaea Keyserling, 1882, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/d7b7ae8e-ff3c-4824-99e6-146fecb653a9
- Striped Jumping Spiders (Genus Cytaea), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/347006-Cytaea
Alice Springs SpidersAustralian Golden Orb Weaver Australian Huntsman Spiders (Sparassidae) Backobourkines Banded Garden Spider Beautiful Badge Huntsman (Neosparassus calligaster) Cytaea sp Desert Huntsman Spider Elegant Water Spider (Dolomedes facetus) Hackled Orb-weavers Hortophora sp Long-jawed Orb Weavers Long-tailed St. Andrew’s Cross Spider Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae) Miturgidae (Elassoctenus spp) Red-headed Mouse Spider Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti) Wall Spider (Oecobius sp)
Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders
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