# Pellenes tharinae

Pellenes tharinae is a species of jumping spider in the genus Pellenes that lives in Tanzania. It is a hairy medium-sized spider with a carapace that is between 1.3 and 1.7 mm (0.05 and 0.07 in) long and an abdomen between 1.2 and 2.1 mm (0.05 and 0.08 in) long. The female is larger than the male. The spider is generally dark brown on top and there is a distinctive pattern on the abdomen of both sexes that looks like a white arrow. The underside of the spider is also brown, although the sternum is a lighter brown. The spider's front legs are darker than the rest and there are hairs at the bottom of the spider's chelicerae. The female has flaps on its epigyne. The species was first described in 2006. It is named after the arachnologist Tharina Bird.

## Taxonomy

Pellenes tharinae is a species of jumping spider, a member of the family Salticidae. The species was first described by the arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 2006. Wesołowska allocated the spider to the genus Pellenes, which had been first circumscribed in 1876 by Eugène Simon. The species is named after Tharina Bird, an arachnologist at the Namibian National Museum. . In 2000, Dmitri Logunov and Yuri Marusik divided the genus Pellenes into four subgenera, based on the shape of the male palpal bulb. The species is a member of the subgenus Pelmultus.
Wayne Maddison placed the genus Pellenes in the subtribe Harmochirina in the tribe Plexippini in 2015. This had previously been known as Harmochireae, as circumscribed by Simon in 1903. It is allocated to the subclade Saltafresia in the clade Salticoida. It is a member of Plexippoida. In 2016, Jerzy Prószyński grouped the genus with Dexippus under the name Pelenines, named after the genus. It is allocated to the supergroup Hylloida. Phylogenetic analysis of molecular data demonstrates that the genus is most closely related to Habronattus and Havaika.

## Description

Pellenes tharinae is a medium-sized spider. It has a body is divided into two main parts: a cephalothorax and an abdomen. The male has a carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax, that is between 1.3 and 1.7 mm (0.05 and 0.07 in) in length and between 1 and 1.3 mm (0.04 and 0.05 in) in width. It is dark brown, moderately high and covered in grey hairs. The black eye field is marked is bristly with a white patch near the eyes themselves. The underside, or sternum, is brown. White hairs cover the clypeus. The chelicerae are brown with white hairs at the bottom while the brown labium and maxillae have pale margins.
The male has an abdomen that is ranges between 1.2 and 1.5 mm (0.05 and 0.06 in) in length and 0.9 and 1.1 mm (0.04 and 0.04 in) in width. It is generally dark brown and hairy with a thin pale stripe near the front, six white dots near the back and a white arrow in the middle. The underside is brownish, darker to the front. It is this arrow-like pattern that most easily distinguishes the species from the otherwise similar Pellenes cingulatus. The spider's spinnerets are also darker. Its front legs are brown with long black hairs. The remainder of the legs are dark yellow to light brown, and have brown leg hairs and spines.
The spider's reproductive system is similar to others in the genus. It has yellow pedipalps, sensual organs near the mouth and a cymbium that is marked with a few white scales. The palpal bulb has a narrow spike-like embolus projecting from it, which is accompanied by a thicker projection or apophysis that makes it look as if the spider has a double embolus. They curve, following the contour of the palpal bulb and do not project beyond the cymbium. The palpal tibia has a pointed apophysis that has a wide base and a slight curve to its end.
The female is similar in size to the male, with a carapace between 1.5 and 1.6 mm (0.06 and 0.06 in) in length and 1.2 and 1.3 mm (0.05 and 0.05 in) in width and an abdomen between 1.3 and 2.1 mm (0.05 and 0.08 in) long and between 1 and 1.6 mm (0.06 in) wide. It has the same characteristic pattern on its abdomen. It is also similar in shape to the male but is generally larger. Its copulatory organs are again distinctive. The epigyne, the external copulatory organ, has a pocket in the middle and two flaps that show evidence of sclerotization. The copulatory openings open to short insemination ducts that lead to multi-chambered spermathecae, or receptacles.

## Distribution and habitat

Pellenes spiders can be found across the Afrotropical, Holarctic and Indomalayan realms. Pellenes tharinae lives in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The holotype was found in a gravel bed in the Brandberg Mountain in Namibia at an altitude of 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above sea level in 2000. Other specimen have been found in karoo nearby. It is amongst the most abundant species of spider living in the area.
In 2009, Wesołowska and Charles Haddad identified that female examples described in 1999 as Pellenes pulcher were of this species. This extended its species distribution to include Zimbabwe. At the same time they also listed the species as one of those that they had found living in the Ndumo Game Reserve in South Africa. This was the first time it had been seen in the country. It was found in plant litter under Vachellia tortilis trees. Subsequently, it was found in Free State. Examples were found in a range of environments, including the chimney of a termite mound. It has also been found living amongst plant litter in a forest of mopane trees. Its conservation status is considered of least concern.