Brettus cingulatus Thorell 1895

Ahmed, Javed, Khalap, Rajashree, Hill, David E., N., Sumukha J. & Mohan, Krishna, 2017, First record of Brettus cingulatus from India, with a review of Brettus in South and Southeast Asia (Araneae: Salticidae: Spartaeinae), Peckhamia 151 (1), pp. 1-13 : 4-11

Brettus cingulatus Thorell 1895

♂ [8] Brettus cingulatus Thorell 1895 ("Tharrawaddy" or Thayarwady, Myanmar)

Brettus cingulatus Wanless 1979 ( Burma)

♀ [9] Brettus albolimbatus Simon 1900 (" India merid. Trichinopoly " or Tiruchirappalli), new synonymy

Brettus albolimbatus Wanless 1979 ( India, Madras, Trichinopoly)

♀ [9] Brettus semifimbriatus Simon 1900 ( India merid. Trichinopoly )

♀ [10] Portia semifimbriata Strand 1912 (Travancore in Indien)

♀ [11] Portia cingulata Reimoser 1925 (Fort de Kock, Sumatra)

♂ ♀ [12] Brettus cingulatus Jackson & Hallas 1986 ( Sri Lanka)

♀ [13] Brettus albolimbatus Peng & Kim 1998 (Yunnan Province, China)

♀ [12] Brettus albolimbatus Jackson 2000 (Habarana, Sri Lanka)

♂ ♀ [12] Brettus albolimbatus Cerveira, Jackson & Guseinov 2003 (Habarana, Sri Lanka)

♂ ♀ Brettus albolimbatus Sebastian & Peter 2009 (location not specified)

♂ [14] Brettus serratopalpis (unpub.) Padayatty 2011 (Kanjoor, Ernaculam District , Kerala)

♀ [14] Brettus serratopalpis (unpub.) Padayatty 2011 (Kakkanadu, Ernaculam District , Kerala)

♀ [15] Brettus sp. (penultimate female) Bay 2012 (Fraser's Hill, Raub District , Pahang, Malaysia)

♀? [16] Brettus albolimbatus Chetia & Kalita 2012 (Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India)

♀ [17] Brettus sp. Popumon 2013 (video record at Pangseeda National Park , Thailand)

♀ [18] Brettus albolimbatus Sekar 2013 (Kabini River Lodge, Karnataka)

♂ [19] Brettus sp. photograph by Vipin Baliga 2013 ( Western Ghats )

♀ [13] Brettus sp. Horstman 2014 (Pu'er, Yunnan, China)

♂ ♀ [20] Brettus sp. Ismavel 2014 (Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District , Assam)

♀ [21] Brettus albolimbatus Sen, Dhali, Saha & Raychaudhuri 2015 (Sevok, Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal)

♂ ♀ [22] Brettus sp. Shah 2016 ( Sanjay Gandhi National Park , Mumbai)

♀ [23] Brettus albolimbatus Roy, Saha & Raychaudhuri 2016 (Nagrakata Tea Estate, Dooars, West Bengal)

♀ [24] Brettus albolimbatus Dahli, Saha & Raychaudhuri 2017 (Jalpaiguri, West Bengal)

♂ ♀ [25] Brettus sp. photographs by Sumukha JN 2017 (Shivamogga, Karnataka)

♀ [25] Brettus sp. photographs by Sumukha JN 2017 ( KANS, Hosanagara taluk, Shivamogga , Karnataka)

♂ [26] Brettus cingulatus photographs by Raiyan Ahmed ( Bangladesh)

♂ [27] Brettus cingulatus photograph by Rakesh Kumar B. ( Mangalore, Karnataka)

♂ [14] Brettus cingulatus photographs by Sunny Joseph (Kerala)

♂ [28] Brettus cingulatus Ahmed, Khalap, Hill, Sumukha & Mohan 2017 , new record (Nagaon, Alibaug, Maharashtra)

Brettus cingulatus ( Figures 2-9 ) is a widely distributed species that has been frequently photographed and also reared in captivity for behavioural studies (Jackson & Hallas 1986; Jackson 2000; Cerveira et al. 2003). Previously only a single male collected in Myanmar prior to 1895 was known ( Thorell 1895; Wanless 1979). Jackson & Hallas (1986), Sebastian & Peter (2009), Padayatty (2011), Shah (2016) and Ismavel (2014) described or photographed what appear to be typical male B. cingulatus in association with female B. albolimbatus (here synonymized). The two sexes are similar with respect to their relatively dark colouration, iridescent bronze-green scales of the dorsal opisthosoma, and bronze-green to coppery-violet iridescence of the carapace and legs. Both sexes have alternating white and black stripes running along the length of legs IV that are readily visible from above, prominent fringes beneath legs I and II, and a variable number of isolated, larger white scales on the glossy black anterior femora of legs I. The male pedipalp ( Figure 2 ) has a large, pointed prolateral tibial apophysis, and a large, distally directed and blunt (rectangular at the end) retrolateral tibial apophysis. The proximal retrolateral margin of the cymbium also has a distinctive spur that appears as a serrated edge in most views. Viewed from the front, the pedipalp is black with black setae, and like the legs may be coppery-violet iridescent when viewed from above. The carapace is black or dark brown with some bronze-green or coppery-violet iridescence above, and there may be brown to red-brown setae toward the front of the eye region. There is a wide white clypeal band that is continuous with even wider marginal bands that circle around to meet at the rear of the carapace. The chelicerae are dark brown to black, mostly glabrous but may have a cover of some sparse black setae. The opisthosoma is uniform in colouration, densely covered with bronzegreen setae. Legs I are much thicker and longer than legs II. Legs I are black with a long black fringe beneath the paterall and tibia. The front of legs I is black with a loose cover of large, separate white scales. Legs II are also black with a shorter black fringe beneath the patella and tibia. As in the female, legs III are banded. Femur III is black, and the patella to tarsus may be light brown, distinctly lighter in colour than the other legs. All of the thin tarsi are light brown or off-white.

PTA RTA

record for India, locality [28]). The blunt, distally oriented RTA and the serrated lateral margin (S)

and spur (1, arrow) of the cymbium are characteristics of this species. There is also a large

prolateral tibial apophysis (PTA), separated from the RTA by a notch (3, 4).

The female epigynum has a pair of S-shaped ducts, one on either side of a pair of medial ducts, extending toward the front to meet the pair of spermathecae. The femur of the pedipalp is light brown, the distal segments thin and white. The carapace is dark or black and may have some bronze-green iridescence, and may have reddish setae toward the front of the eye region. Wide white to light yellow marginal bands, separate at the front, extend around the sides of the carapace to join at the rear. The clypeus and chelicerae may be covered with longer grey-brown setae. The dorsal opisthosoma is bronze-green (or the green-tinted rose, viridi roseoque tinctum, colour given by Simon) to brown and shiny or iridescent, with distinctive light yellow or white figures that may be surrounded by black. These include an anterior marginal band, behind this a pair of large spots or maculae, and a transverse band toward the rear. Between the maculae other median figures may also be present, and their appearance also varies with the extent of expansion of the opisthosoma. Legs I and II are thicker, and legs II are noticeably thicker than in the male. The femur of leg I is black with scattered large white scales, and there is also one or two regular lines of white scales along the bottom, visible from the front. The patella of leg I may be off-white to light purple or dark. Below the tibia of leg I there is a fringe of long, dark orange setae and behind this a longer fringe of black setae. The thin metatarsus and tarsus of leg I are off-white. Legs II are similar to legs I but the fringes under the tibiae are less prominent, and the proximal tibiae may be light brown. As in the male, legs III are banded, with the proximal femur light brown, the distal femur brown, and the patella light brown or off-white. The thin tarsus and metatarsus of all legs are also off-white. As in the male leg IV (from femur to tibia) bears alternating white and black stripes that are more-or-less continuous. There is a distal black fringe of longer setae (longer distally) beneath tibia IV.

The male Brettus cingulatus depicted in Figures 2-3 , from Nagaon, Alibaug District , Maharashtra (locality [29]), represents a new record of the male of this species from India . This spider was first encountered as it was resting on the underside of a teak tree leaf, well past midnight, in the garden of the beach front holiday home of one of the authors (R. Khalap). This spider was then collected and subsequently photographed and euthanized. All material examined will be deposited in the repository of The Forest Training Institute, Chikhaldara, Amravati . An excellent video depicting the brooding female of this species may be viewed online ( Popumon 2013).

Figures

Figure 2. Left pedipalp of male B. cingulatus from Nagaon, Alibaug District, Maharashtra (new

Figure 3. Views of an adult male B. cingulatus from Nagaon, Alibaug District, Maharashtra (new record for India, locality [28]). See Figure 2 for a detailed view of the pedipalp.

Figure 4. Adult male B. cingulatus from: 1-2, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj, District Assam (Vijay Anand Ismavel, by permission, [20]). 3-4, Kerala (Sunny Joseph, by permission [14]). 5-6, Bangladesh (Raiyan Ahmed, by permission, [26]). 7, Mangalore, Karnataka, feeding on spider (Rakesh Kumar B., by permission, [27]. 8, Western Ghats, feeding on spider (Vipin Baliga, permission by CC-BY-2.0 license, [19]).

Figure 5. Two adult female B. cingulatus (1-7, 8-11) from Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District, Assam (Vijay Anand Ismavel, by permission, locality [20]).

Figure 6. B. cingulatus from Shivamogga, Karnataka (1-10, locality [25]) and KANS, Hosanagara taluk, Shivamogga, Karnataka (11, locality [25]) (Sumukha J. N.). 1-5, Adult male with many red-brown setae in the anterior eye region. 6-8, Penultimate male. 9-10, Penultimate female. 11, Adult female with a high degree of iridescence.

Figure 7. Penultimate female Brettus, perhaps a B. cingulatus, from Fraser's Hill, Raub District, Pahang, Malaysia (Nicky Bay, by permission, locality [15]).

Figure 8. Female B. cingulatus with brood from from Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District, Assam (Vijay Anand Ismavel, by permission, locality [20]). 2-4, Legs IV are often held in this elevated position by a brooding female.

Figure 9. Immature Brettus sp. from Bangladesh (Raiyan Ahmed, by permission, locality [26]). These may represent an earlier instar of B. cingulatus.