Phylogenetic isolation of the jumping spider Amilaps olivacea, with notes on morphology and natural history (Salticidae: Spartaeinae: Lapsiini)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2026.97.5803Keywords:
Grutas de Coconá, Karst topography, Phylogeny, Systematics, TaxonomyAbstract
The rarely-seen jumping spider Amilaps mayana Maddison, 2019 has been enigmatic in its phylogenetic placement, having no synapomorphies known to unite it with any other subgroup of salticids. In recent field work in southern México, we found them to be common in limestone alcoves near the entrances of caves. Our phylogenomic analysis based on ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) shows Amilaps to be in the tribe Lapsiini, but phylogenetically isolated as the sister group to all other known genera of the tribe. A preliminary divergence dating analysis hints that it may be the single species most distant from others known within Salticidae. We describe the female for the first time, present photos of living specimens, and give details of its natural history. The discovery of the female reveals that Amilaps mayana is a junior synonym of Sidusa olivacea F.O. Pickard-Cambridge 1901, syn. nov., thus yielding the new combination Amilaps olivacea (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1901), comb. nov.
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