# Aelurillus

Aelurillus is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders).

## Description

Species of the genus Aelurillus are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather furry, with females often uniformly mottled sandy brown, while males are often black, sometimes with a pattern and with light, annulated legs.

## Habits

Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy).
A Southeast Asian species of the genus Aelurillus has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it.
They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation.

## Distribution

Species of the genus Aelurillus occur in the Palaearctic and Africa, with a few species known from India (A. improvisus, A. minimontanus) and Sri Lanka (A. kronestedti, A. quadrimaculatus). Aelurillus subfestivus is found in Japan.

## Species

The following species are recognised in the genus Aelurillus:
* Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871) – Mediterranean
* Aelurillus afghanus Azarkina, 2006 – Afghanistan
* Aelurillus alboclypeus Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – Turkey
* Aelurillus ambiguus (Denis, 1966) – Libya
* Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984 – Central Asia
* Aelurillus angularis Prószynski, 2000 – Israel
* Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) – Central Asia
* Aelurillus balearus Azarkina, 2006 – Canary Islands, Balearic Islands
* Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria, Tunisia
* Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871) – Greece, Crete
* Aelurillus bokerinus Prószynski, 2003 – Israel
* Aelurillus bosmansi Azarkina, 2006 – Spain
* Aelurillus brutus Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
* Aelurillus catherinae Prószynski, 2000 – Egypt
* Aelurillus catus Simon, 1886 – Senegal
* Aelurillus cognatus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) – Lebanon
* Aelurillus concolor Kulczynski, 1901 – Macedonia, Iran, Central Asia
* Aelurillus conveniens (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) – Egypt, Israel, Syria
* Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 – Crete
* Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902 – South Africa
* Aelurillus cypriotus Azarkina, 2006 – Cyprus
* Aelurillus deltshevi Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan
* Aelurillus desertus (Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010) – United Arab Emirates
* Aelurillus dorthesi (Audouin, 1826) – Egypt
* Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 – Central Asia
* Aelurillus faragallai Prószynski, 1993 – Saudi Arabia, Yemen
* Aelurillus galinae Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010 – United Arab Emirates
* Aelurillus gershomi Prószynski, 2000 – Israel
* Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 – Greece
* Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993 – Mongolia
* Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960 – North Africa
* Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002 – India
* Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószynski, 2000 – Israel
* Aelurillus khorasanicus Azarkina & Mirshamsi, 2014 – Iran
* Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 – Greece, Israel, Syria
* Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan
* Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004 – Sri Lanka
* Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 – Macedonia, Kazakhstan
* Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941 – Tajikistan
* Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) – Crete
* Aelurillus logunovi Azarkina, 2004 – Afghanistan, Pakistan
* Aelurillus lopadusae Cantarella, 1983 – Italy, Algeria
* Aelurillus lucasi Roewer, 1951 – Canary Islands, Salvages
* Aelurillus luctuosus (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean to Turkmenistan
* Aelurillus lutosus (Tyschchenko, 1965) – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
* Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
* Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 – India
* Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia
* Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczynski, 1891 – Palearctic
* Aelurillus madagascariensis Azarkina, 2009 – Madagascar
* Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
* Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 – India
* Aelurillus minutus Azarkina, 2002 – Syria, Eritrea
* Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006 Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia
* Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean
* Aelurillus murphyorum Azarkina, 2022 – Kenya
* Aelurillus nabataeus Prószynski, 2003 – Israel
* Aelurillus nenilini Azarkina, 2002 – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
* Aelurillus numidicus (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria
* Aelurillus plumipes (Thorell, 1875) – Algeria, Tunisia
* Aelurillus politiventris (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) – Greece to Israel
* Aelurillus quadrimaculatus Simon, 1889 – India, Sri Lanka
* Aelurillus rugatus (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Tanzania
* Aelurillus russellsmithi Azarkina, 2009 – Ivory Coast
* Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982 – Sicily, Malta
* Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879) – Hungary
* Aelurillus spider monkey – Asia
* Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871) – Morocco
* Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 – Greece
* Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 – Ethiopia
* Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934 – Japan
* Aelurillus thailandicus Azarkina, 2019 – Thailand
* Aelurillus tumidulus Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia
* Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
* Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) – Palearctic
** Aelurillus v-insignitus morulus (Simon, 1937) – France
** Aelurillus v-insignitus obsoletus Kulczynski, 1891 – Eastern Europe
* Aelurillus westi Azarkina & Zamani, 2019 – Iran