Diagnoses of genera
of South East Asia: Light or colourful, sometimes iridescent salticids.
Shrubs, plants, especially broad leaved. General remarks: In the
field, plants with large green leaves, such as ginger, are often favoured by
salticids, particularly colourful species. Some are clothed with dense, coloured,
iridescent hairs which makes them particularly attractive and conspicuous. They
are often to be seen wandering about or sunning themselves on top of the leaves
and sometimes to be found resting or in a cell under a leaf. Salticids often
build a retreat between and attached to two closely overlapping leaves. With
care and a suitably placed sweep net, one can often collect the owner.
Genus: Chalcotropis. 5 species were described by Simon in 1902
and 2 more by Merian in 1911. With one exception, a female from Sulawesi, all
were males. From that time no more species were recorded until recently when
a new species - another male - was described from the Philippines. For this
species, C. luceroi, the carapace is longer than wide and roughly rectangular.
The front is very wide and slightly curved and, towards the back, the sides
curve quite quickly to a more or less truncated rear edge. The carapace is dark
brown with a fairly wide yellow median stripe running from the level of the
posterior eyes to the rear edge. This stripe continues down the length of the
abdomen which is elongate oval and slightly longer than the carapace. The rest
of the abdomen is greyish in colour. The legs, in general, are yellow and spiny.
The chelicerae are stout, very divergent and carry long sinuous fangs, which,
when at rest, lie tip-to-tip, almost in a straight line. Specimens were collected
in secondary forest in a light-trap. The genitalia and habitus of some of Simon's
species were drawn by Proszynski, 1984 and 1987. Distribution: Chalcotropis
is known from India eastwards to Sulawesi and the Philippines. There is
also an old record from the Tonga Islands. Murphy
& Murphy 2000: 346-347. By courtesy of the Authors' and the Malaysian
Nature Society.
Copyright © for the page by J. Proszynski, 2000.