Uroballus


Uroballus is an Asian spider genus of the jumping spider family, Salticidae. It includes seven accepted species.
Uroballus is similar to the related genus Stertinius. Other related genera are Ligurra, Phyaces and Simaetha.

Description

Members of this genus have been described from India and Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Borneo.

Description

Uroballus are about 3 mm long in both sexes. The cephalothorax is very broad, almost square. The abdomen is oval, the first pair of legs thick and short with swollen femora. The other legs are weak.
The spinnerets are very long and thin. Among spiders, only Hersiliidae possess longer spinnerets. The function of such long spinnerets remains unknown.
Adult spiders of some species may mimic lichen moths caterpillars.

Name

The genus name is a combination of Ancient Greek οὐρᾱ́ "tail" and the salticid genus Ballus, referring to the long spinnerets.

Species

, this genus includes seven species:Uroballus carlei Logunov & Obenauer, 2019 – China Uroballus henicurus Simon, 1902 – Sri LankaUroballus kinabalu Logunov, 2018 – Malaysia Uroballus koponeni Logunov, 2014 – Malaysia Uroballus nazirwanii Prajapati, Malamel & Sebastian, 2020 – IndiaUroballus octovittatus Simon, 1902 – Sri Lanka Uroballus peckhami Żabka, 1985 – Vietnam