Cosmophasis baehrae Żabka & Waldock 2012

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 : 12

2. Cosmophasis baehrae Żabka & Waldock 2012

Figures 12-17, Map ( Figures 1-2) #5

Material examined. Two adult females (HC-BN5f and HC-BN6f) were collected 13 FEB 2017 (preserved 18 FEB 2017) by the senior author on small garden croton plants ( Euphorbiaceae : Codiaeum variegatum (L.) A. Juss.) growing along the roadside on Banda Neir in the Banda Islands. These specimens will be deposited in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA), Gainesville. One male ( Figure 11) and two more females from this habitat were also photographed but not collected.

Diagnosis. Adult males ( Figure 12) can be identified by their mostly black and white colouration, including a median stripe of white setae extending from the front of the eye region, between the AME, to the clypeus. The sides of the carapace are covered with iridescent violet scales. Females ( Figures 13-17) vary in appearance, but are generally brown to bronze or light-orange and ivory-white in colour, with white setae extending to the clypeus between the AME, as in the males. Identification can be confirmed by examining the epigynum, which bears two darker figures, each shaped like a retort ( Figure 17). This is a widely-distributed but little-studied species, mostly from the tropical north of Australia ( Figure 1).