Langona bethae

Langona bethae is a jumping spider that was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Meg Cumming in 2011.[1] It was one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist.[2] The species was placed in the genus Langona, first described by Eugène Simon in 1901.[3] It was listed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia.[4] In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines. It is particularly closely related to the genus Aelurillus, after which the group is named.[5] The species is named in honour of Meg Cumming's daughter Beth, who spent much of her childhood in the area of Zimbabwe where the species was first found and had died before the species was described.[6]

The spider is large and hairy.[3] The male has a cephalothorax that is between 2.6 and 2.9 mm (0.10 and 0.11 in) in length and 1.9 and 2.1 mm (0.075 and 0.083 in) in width. The carapace is quite high and pear-shaped. It is brown and hairy and is marked with two white streaks on the thorax. The black eye field has yellow and fawn coloured hairs. The abdomen is dark brown with a stripe down the middle composed of yellow hair that has an irregular and distinctive shape. It is between 2.2 and 2.5 mm (0.087 and 0.098 in) long and between 1.5 and 1.7 mm (0.059 and 0.067 in) wide. The underside is light. The clypeus is light brown. The chelicerae are toothless and the spinnerets are long. The legs are brown-orange and have brown hairs. The pedipalps are dark and hairy. The tibial apophysis is very thin, long and curved. The embolus is hidden in a pocket in the cymbium and is coiled into the tip of the palpal bulb.[6]

The female is larger than the male, with a cephalothorax that measures between 3.4 and 3.5 mm (0.13 and 0.14 in) long and 2.5 and 2.6 mm (0.098 and 0.102 in) wide and an abdomen that is between 3.5 and 4.4 mm (0.14 and 0.17 in) in length and 2.9 and 3.9 mm (0.11 and 0.15 in) in width. It has similar colours to the male, but the pattern is more prominent on the abdomen. The legs are similar but are slightly shorter. It is generally less colourful than the male. The eye field has a pattern of five indistinct spots. The epigyne has a narrow depression that is shaped like a crescent.[6] The copulatory openings are relatively widely spaced and lead to bean-shaped spermathecae.[7]

Like other Lagona spiders, the chelicerae are toothless. and there is a single apophysis, or appendage, on the pedipalp tibia, which enables it to be distinguished from other Aelurillinae.[8] The species resembles the related Langona pilosa, but may be identified by the distinctive pattern on the abdomen. The male differs in having a shorter apophysis on the tibia and a shorter embolus.[9] The female is similar to other species in the genus, although the internal design of the epigyne is similar to Langelurillus ignorabilis, but differs in the morphology of the seminal ducts.[6]

Langona bethae is found in Botswana and Zimbabwe.[1] The holotype was found in the Sengwa Wildlife Research Area, Zimbabwe, in 2002.[9] It was subsequently also identified in Chizarira National Park in 2009. An example from Matabeleland that had been collected in 1990 was also assigned to the species. The spider also lives in Botswana. The first example was discovered in the Okavango Delta in 2006. Langona bethae lives in dry savannah, and is also known to live under houses.[10]