Agorioides, Maddison, Wayne P. & Szűts, Tamas, 2019

Maddison, Wayne P. & Szűts, Tamas, 2019, Myrmarachnine jumping spiders of the new subtribe Levieina from Papua New Guinea (Araneae, Salticidae, Myrmarachnini), ZooKeys 842, pp. 85-112 : 85

Agorioides gen. n.

Type species.

Agorioides cherubino sp. n.

Etymology.

Named for the spiders’ superficial resemblance to Agorius Thorell, 1877.

Diagnosis.

Antlike, with concave-sided carapace, swollen first femur, a long ocular quadrangle, long fourth trochanters, and a spinose first tibia. The carapace is sunken inward (concave) between the PME and PLE, leaving the PLE on prominent tubercles, and yielding a constriction that resembles that of hisponine salticids. The femur of the first leg is shaped like a bird’s lower leg ( “drumstick”), swollen in the proximal half but thin distally. The length of the ocular quadrangle is distinctly more than half the length of the carapace. The fourth trochanter is unusually long, longer than either the coxa or the fourth tarsus. Unlike Leviea and Papuamyr , the paturon of the chelicera lacks an ectal spur, and the first tibia has many pairs of long macrosetae; both of these features can be found in some species of Myrmarachnina.

Remarks.

The two species described are closely similar, but distinct in the form of the palp, shape of the carapace, and in colour. They were found only seven km apart, but at distinct elevations (570 m vs. ca. 1000 m). In other salticid genera, closely related species have been observed to segregate along such an elevational gradient in the same area (e.g., Cucudeta zabkai Maddison, 2009 vs. Cucudeta uzet Maddison, 2009 at 1170 m vs. 1450 m [ Maddison 2009]).