Aelurillus galinae

Aelurillus galinae is a species of jumping spider in the genus Aelurillus that is endemic to the United Arab Emirates. It was first described in 2010 by Wanda Wesołowska and Antonius van Harten. The species is small with a cephalothorax that is between 1.5 and 1.8 mm long and an abdomen that is between 1.4 and 2.2 mm long. The female is larger than the male. The female has a spherical abdomen that has a grey and fawn pattern. The male abdomen has a wide brown stripe across the middle and is otherwise yellow. The carapace of both similar. The species is distinguished by the way that the front set of eyes extend beyond the front of the carapace and the way that the appendages on the male palpal bulb have blended.

Taxonomy
Aelurillus galinae is a jumping spider that was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Antonius van Harten in 2010. It is one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist Wesolowska. It was placed in the genus Aelurillus that was first described by Eugène Simon in 1885. The genus name derives from the Greek word for cat. The species is named after the arachnologist Galina Azarkina. It was placed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini, both named after the genus, by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia. In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines.

Description
Aelurillus galinae is a small spider. The male has a cephalothorax that is between 1.5 and 1.6 mm in length and 1.2 and 1.4 mm in width. It has a brown carapace and a short black eye field, with a pattern of four thin lines formed of white hairs on the eye field that merge into two wider stripes on the thorax. The carapace has a distinctive shape, particularly at the front, with the front set of eyes extending beyond the body, particularly the central eyes. The yellow abdomen is between 1.4 and 1.6 mm long and 1 and 1.1 mm wide and has a wide brown stripe across the middle. The clypeus is brown with light hair, the chelicerae light brown with dark hairs and the spinnerets are greyish. The legs are yellow and hairy. The pedipalps are also light in colour, which is accentuated by them being covered in white hairs. The palpal bulb has two short tibial apophyses and distinctive blended appendages that extend from the middle.

The female is slightly larger than the male, with a cephalothorax that is 1.7 and 1.8 mm long and 1.3 and 1.4 mm wide and an abdomen 1.9 and 2.2 mm long and 1.9 and 2.2 mm wide. The colouring of the carapace is similar, although the lines are less clear, but the distinctive position of the eyes is the same. The abdomen is very different, being spherical and swollen in shape and patterned with fawn and greyish patches. The legs are spotted brown, but otherwise also similar. The epigyne is typical for the genus. It has a pocket and wings lining the copulatory openings.

Distribution
The spider is endemic to the United Arab Emirates. First found in Sharjah Desert Park in Sharjah, it has also been identified in Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi.