Cosmophasis micarioides (L. Koch 1880 )

Hurni-Cranston, Tiziano & Hill, David E., 2021, Three new jumping spiders of the genus Cosmophasis from Wallacea (Araneae: Salticidae: Chrysillini), Peckhamia 228 (1), pp. 1-84 : 31

6. Cosmophasis micarioides (L. Koch 1880)

Figures 28-30, Map ( Figure 1) #32

This colourful and sexually dimorphic species has been found from the tropical northeastern coast of Austalia to the Kei Islands and Papua ( Figure 1). Jackson (1986) described the agonistic and courtship display of males, and the cohabitation of males and females . The male courtship display includes elevation and rotation of the opisthosoma, with the legs extended to the sides in several characteristic positions. Otherwise little is known of the biology of these spiders.

Diagnosis. Males ( Figures 28, 29:1) resemble C. thalassina , but can be readily separated from that species by the presence of a black stripe extending down the side of the carapace below each ALE. Females ( Figures 29-30) have a more distinctive colour pattern. See Żabka & Waldock (2012) for a recent redescription of this species, including many illustrations of the genitalia.