Zodarion scutatum
Zodarion scutatum is a species of ant spider in the genus Zodarion that lives in Europe. It was first seen in Slovenia and has been subsequently found in many other countries, including Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. The spider is small, typically long. It has an orange-brown carapace with dark brown eye field and a light yellow sternum. Its opisthosoma is violet to dark brown on top and mainly yellow underneath. It has a distinctive scutum. Its legs are yellow-brown. Its copulatory organs distinguish it from related spiders, particularly the triangular appendage on the spike in the middle of the male's palpal bulb, or median apophysis and the deep indentation in the middle of the female's epigyne.
Taxonomy
Zodarion scutatum is a species of ant spider, a member of the family Zodariidae, that was first described by Jörg Wunderlich in 1980. He allocated it to the genus Zodarion, which had been circumscribed by Charles Walckenaer in 1826. The genus is a member of the family Zodariidae, first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1881. RAD sequencing has demonstrated that it is one of the oldest of the extant spider genera, dating to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. It is divided into groups based on the design of the copulatory organs. Zodarion is a member of the aculeatum group, along with Zodarion aculeatum and Zodarion sardum.Description
The spider is small and has typical total length of. Its prosoma has a typical length of and width of. its carapace, the upper side of its prosoma, is orange-brown with a dark brown eye field. The sternum, or underside of the prosoma, is light yellow and edged in dark brown. There is a single tooth in the spider's chelicerae. The top of its ovate opisthosoma is violet to dark brown with a shiny lustre. It has a distinctive hard layer or scutum. The underside is mainly yellow with dark areas in front of the spinnerets. The spinnerets themselves are yellow. Its legs are yellow-brown and hairy.The spider's copulatory organs distinguish it from other members of the genus. The male has a gland at the base of its cymbium and a spike in the middle of the palpal bulb, or median apophysis, that has a smaller spike emanating from an elongated lower section and larger triangular appendage towards the front. The spider's embolus does not extend far from the palpal bulb and finishes with a blunted tip. The female has a deep narrow indentation in the middle of its epigyne, the external visible part of its copulatory organs. The two copulatory openings lead to widely-separated spermathecae, or receptacles.