Diagnoses of genera of South East Asia: 51.2 Square headed salticids with long thin, colourful abdomens. Found on shrubs and plants. General remarks: This section includes some of the commoner salticids likely to be seen on foliage in rain forest or garden. They are often brightly coloured and immediately attract attention. Their large, dark, anterior median eyes are noticed immediately. The long thin bodies, long legs and long chelicerae of males are characteristic.
Genus: Viciria (7-12; 7-11), PI. 27.7. See also Koh, p. 119.
This colourful genus is similar in appearance to Telamonia. Originally,
a number of oriental Telamonia species were in fact placed in Viciria.
The carapace and eye pattern are very similar but the very long, very thin abdomen
of Viciria is almost cylindrical. However, the colour patterns differ.
Typically there is a single, broad, longitudinal stripe with a pattern of black
dashes on the abdomen, and on the cephalus of the female there is a broad, white
median stripe. For the male of the relatively common V. praemandibularis
the carapace is uniformly orange with bronze iridescent hairs on the cephalus.
The median stripe on the abdomen is dark brown with some black dashes, and the
sides are orange. The legs are long, slender and shiny. The brown front legs
are longest and the others are yellowish. There are numerous spines, and the
ventral spines on the first two pairs of legs are long and strong. For the female
V. praemandibularis, the carapace is yellowish and the white stripe on
the cephalus is bordered by two equally wide bright orange stripes that run
from the front eyes to the rear eyes and then diverge and continue down the
thorax to the margin. Another bright orange stripe starts up at the fovea and
runs down the middle of the thorax to the margin. The median stripe of the abdomen
is also bright orange with a pattern of black dashes. It is narrowly bordered
with white, and the sides of the abdomen are yellowish. The legs are a paler
edition of those on the male.
Distribution: In the catalogues, Viciria appears to occur in the
tropics from Africa to Sulawesi. However, only two species at present are definitely
known to belong to Viciria, namely V. pavesii from Sulawesi and
V. praemandibularis which ranges from Singapore to Sulawesi. The other
species of Viciria listed in the catalogues have not been studied recently
and it is probable that, in due course, some of these will be reclassified.
Murphy & Murphy 2000:
301. By courtesy of the Authors' and the Malaysian Nature Society.
Copyright © for the page by J. Proszynski, 1999.