Euophrys gracilis
Euophrys gracilis is a species of jumping spider in the genus Euophrys that is endemic to South Africa. The species was first described in 2014 by Wanda Wesołowska, Galina Azarkina and Anthony Russell-Smith. It is a small spider, with a body that consists of a cephalothorax that measures between long and a abdomen that is between 2 mm and long. The carapace, the topside of the cephalothorax, and the underside of the cephalothorax, or sternum, are brown, although the male is lighter than the female. The pattern on the abdomen differs between the female and the male. The female has a mosaic of light dark patches while the male has a pattern of white stripes. They have brown legs. The copulatory organs enable the spider to be distinguished from other species in the genus. The male has a long thin embolus on its palpal bulb while the female has insemination ducts that have a knotted loop near the top.
Etymology and taxonomy
Euophrys gracilis is a species of jumping spider that was first described by Wanda Wesołowska Galina Azarkina and Anthony Russell-Smith in 2014. They allocated it to the genus Euophrys, which had been first circumscribed by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1934. It was one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist Wesołowska during her career, more than any other contemporary writer and second only to the French arachnologist Eugène Simon. The genus is named for a Greek word that can be translated "fair eyebrows". The species is named for a Latin word that can be translated "slender".In Wayne Maddison's 2015 study of spider phylogenetic classification, the genus Euophrys was listed to the tribe Euophryini. First circumscribed by Simon in 1901, the tribe has also been known as Euophrydinae, but the original name is now more prevalent. It is a member of a subgroup of genera called Evophrydeae after the latter name. It is a member of the clade Saltafresia. Analysis of protein-coding genes showed it was particularly related to Thorelliola. In 2016, Prószyński added the genus to a group of genera named Euopherines, named after the genus. This is a member of the supergroup of genera Euphryoida.
Description
Euophrys gracilis is a small light spider with a body divided into two main parts: a broader oval cephalothorax and wider oval abdomen. The male has a cephalothorax that is typically long and wide. The carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax, is a brown oval,. The eye field is black with a covering of thin brown and grey hairs, while there are some longer brown bristles near the eyes themselves. The underside of the cephalothorax, or sternum, is brownish. The mouthparts are also brownish, including the labium and maxillae, although the latter has paler parts.The spider's abdomen is an oval that measures typically in length and