Phaeacius
| Phaeacius | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Subfamily: | Spartaeinae |
| Genus: |
Phaeacius Thorell, 1891 |
| Type species | |
|
Phaeacius fimbriatus Simon, 1900 |
|
| Species | |
| Diversity | |
| 14 species | |
Phaeacius is a spider genus of the family Salticidae (jumping spiders), found in sub-tropical China and between India and the Malay Peninsula, including Sri Lanka, Sumatra and the Philippines. Although other spiders can jump, salticids including Phaeacius have significantly better vision than other spiders, and their main eyes are more acute in daylight than a cat's and 10 times more acute than a dragonfly's. The main eyes focus accurately on an object at distances from approximately 2 centimetres (0.79 in) to infinity, and in practice can see up to about 75 centimetres (30 in). They do not spin web .
While most jumping spiders are active hunters, Phaeacius is unusually sedentary, generally resting in its unusual flattened pose for hours or days on logs, tree barks, pieces of wood or any other solid surface, where it is very well camouflaged. Its preferred prey is moths and other insects, and jumping spiders. Insects can usually move around an inactive Phaeacius, or even over its body, but if the insect moves between the spider's first pair of legs, Phaeacius lunges extremely quickly to bite the prey. Sometimes Phaeacius takes a more active approach, especially if without prey for a week or more. Phaeacius does not enter webs voluntary, and moves away if it touches one accidentally. It can bite through the threads and pull strongly with its legs, but cannot escape from very sticky webs.
The closest relatives of Phaeacius are in the genus Holcolaetis, and the next closest genera are Portia and Spartaeus.
Spiders are chelicerates, which differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into only two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen. Jumping spiders have a distinctive rectangular carapace. All spiders' abdomens bear appendages that have been modified into spinnerets that extrude silk from up to six types of silk glands within their abdomen. The cephalothorax and abdomen are joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel, which allows the abdomen to move while spinning silk. While most jumping spiders do not build webs to catch prey, they use silk for other purposes, including moulting and laying eggs.
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Wikipedia