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Genus Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia


Extra Distribution Information

Cosmopolitan.


IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

South Eastern Queensland (SEQ) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Channel Country (CHC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Jarrah Forest (JF), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), South East Corner (SEC), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR) ; NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), South Eastern Highlands (SEH) ; NSW, Qld, WA: Swan Coastal Plain (SWA) ; NT, Qld: Arnhem Plateau (ARP) ; SA: Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD)

Other Regions

Coral Sea Islands Territory, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Arthropod-feeder, carnivorous, predator.

 

General References

Berry, J.W., Beatty, J.A. & Proszynski, J. 1996. Salticidae of the Pacific Islands. I. Distribution of twelve genera, with descriptions of eighteen new species. Journal of Arachnology 24: 214-253 [238] (summary description)

Ceccarelli, F.S. 2008. Behavioural mimicry in Myrmarachne species (Araneae, Salticidae) from north Queensland, Australia. Journal of Arachnology 36: 344-351

Ceccarelli, F.S. 2009. Ant-mimicking spider, Myrmarachne species (Araneae : Salticidae), distinguishes its model, the green ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, from a sympatric Batesian O. smaragdina mimic, Riptortus serripes (Hemiptera : Alydidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 57: 305-309

Ceccarelli, F.S. &. Crozier, R.H. 2007. Dynamics of the evolution of Batesian mimicry: molecular phylogenetic analysis of ant-mimicking Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae) species and their ant models. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20: 286-295

Cross, F.R. & Jackson, R.R. 2018. When it looks and walks like and ant. Learning and Behaviour 46: 103-104 [103-104]

Edmunds, M. 2006. Do Malaysian Myrmarachne associate with particular species of ant? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 88: 645-653

Edwards, G.B. & Benjamin, S.P. 2009. A first look at the phylogeny of the Myrmarachninae, with rediscovery and redescription of the type species of Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae). Zootaxa 2309: 1–29, illustrations 1-10

Elgar, M.A. 1993. Inter-specific association involving spiders: Kleptoparasitism, mimicry and mutualism. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 33: 411-430

Holmes, A. 2019. First observation of Myrmarachne species feeding on ants (Araneae: Salticidae: Myrmarachnini). Peckhamia 178.1: 1-4

Huang, J-N., Cheng, R-C, Li, D. & Tso, I-M. 2011. Salticid predation as one potential driving force of ant mimicry in jumping spiders. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (B) 278: 1356-1364

Jackson, R.R. & Nelson, X.J. 2012. Specialized exploitation of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by spiders (Araneae). Myrmecological News 17: 33-49

Maddison, W.P. 2015. A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology 43: 231-292

Maddison, W.P., Bodner, M.R. & Needham, K.M. 2008. Salticid spider phylogeny revisited, with the discovery of a large Australian clade (Araneae: Salticidae). Zootaxa 1893: 49-64

Nelson, X. J., Daiqin Li, & Jackson, R.R. 2006. Out of the frying pan and into the fire: a novel trade-off for Batesian mimics. Ethology 12: 270-277

Nelson, X.J. & Jackson, R.R. 2008. Antipredator creches and aggregations of ant-mimicking jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 94: 475-481

Nelson, X.J. and Card, A. 2016. Locomotory mimicry in ant-like spiders. Behavioral Ecology 27: 700-707

Nelson, Z.J. & Jackson, R.R. 2012. How spiders practice aggressive and Batesian mimicry. Current Zoology 58: 620-629

Pekar, S., Petrakova, L. Corcobado, G. & Whyte, R. 2017. Revision of eastern Australian ant-mimicking spiders of the genus Myrmarachne (Araneae, Salticidae) reveals a complex of species and forms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 179: 642-676

Pekar, S. & Jiros, P. 2011. Do ant mimics imitate cuticular hydrocarbons of their models? Animal Behaviour 82: 1193-1199

Proszynski, J. 2001. Remarks on jumping spiders of the genus Damoetas related to Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae) with description of two new species. Annales Zoologici, Warszawa 51: 517-522 (Damoetas considered non ant-like sister genus to Myrmarachne)

Proszynski, J. 2016. Delimitation and description of 19 new genera, a subgenus and a species of Salticidae (Araneae) of the world. Ecologia Montenegrina 7: 4-32 (this paper subdivides Myrmarachne into a number of new genera. The Australian species apparently all remain in Myrmarachne)

Qu Hong-Hao, Lui Feng-Xiang, Zhang Zeng-Tao & Li Dai-Qin 2017. The role of elongated male chelicerae in sexual selection of an ant-like jumping spider Myrmarachne japonica. Acta Arachnologica Sinica 26: 51-58

Richardson, B.J., Whyte, R. & Zabka, M. 2019. A key to the genera of Australian jumping spiders (Aranaea: Salticidae). https://apps.lucidcentral.org/salticidae/

Richardson, B.J., Żabka, M., Gray, M.R. & Milledge, G. 2006. Distributional patterns of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Australia. Journal of Biogeography 33: 707-719 (Gives BIOCLIM predicted distribution of the genus)

Shamble, P.S., Hoy, R.R., Cohen, I & Beatus, T. 2017. Walking like an ant: a quantitative and experimental approach to understanding locomotor mimicry in the jumping spider Myrmarachne formicaria. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (B) 284: 20170308

Whyte, R. & Anderson, G. 2017. A field guide to the spiders of Australia. Clayton : CSIRO Publishing pp.

Zabka, M., Patoleta, B. and Trebicki, L. 2019. Salticidae (Arachnida: Araneae) inhabiting island off Australia re-visited. Austral Entomology 58: 382-386

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
30-Sep-2019 SALTICIDAE Blackwall, 1841 14-Aug-2019 MODIFIED Barry Richardson
29-Mar-2018 SALTICIDAE Blackwall, 1841 19-Mar-2018 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 SALTICIDAE Blackwall, 1841 15-Jul-2017 MODIFIED Barry Richardson
15-Oct-2020 SALTICIDAE Blackwall, 1841 15-Jun-2015 MODIFIED Barry Richardson
15-Oct-2020 20-Jun-2012 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 18-Aug-2011 MODIFIED
09-Jul-2011 MODIFIED