Aelurillus kopetdaghi

Aelurillus kopetdaghi is a species of jumping spider in the genus Aelurillus that lives in Turkmenistan. It was first described in 1996 by Wanda Wesołowska. The species is dark brown and medium-sized, with a bristly carapace that is between 3.4 and 3.5 mm long and a hairy abdomen that is between 3.2 and 4.1 mm long. The female is larger than the male. They also differ in details, such as the colour of the pedipalps, which are orange and brown respectively. The copulatory organs of the female are superficially similar to other species in the genus, like Aelurillus v-insignitus, but the internal structure is more complex.

Taxonomy
Aelurillus kopetdaghi is a jumping spider species first described by Wanda Wesołowska in 1996. It is one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist during her career. She placed it in the genus Aelurillus, first described by Eugène Simon in 1885. The genus name derives from the Greek word for cat and the species name is derived from the Latin for strange. 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
The spider is medium-sized. The male has a dark brown, nearly black, carapace that is 3.4 mm long and 2.1 mm wide, that has many long brown bristles. The bristles are especially common on the eye field. The abdomen is also dark brown, elongated, 3.2 mm long and 2.4 mm wide and covered with dense long brown hairs. The base of the abdomen is dark. The chelicerae are brown with a two small tooth at the front and another at the back. The spinnerets vary in colour, with the forward ones darker than those towards the back. The legs are orange and hairy, and the pedipalps are brown and hairy. The palpal bulb is rounded and has a hooked embolus. The shape of the copulatory organs differentiate the species from others in the genus.

The female is similar to the male in shape but slightly larger. It has a carapace 3.5 mm long and 2.3 mm wide and an abdomen that is 4.1 in long and 3,1 mm wide. The carapace is higher and has a darker eye field. The abdomen is more rounded, with a pointed end, with golden hairs visible amongst the darker ones as found in the male. The legs are orange-brown with patches of darker hues, and the hairs are longer. The pedipalps are orange. It has many similarities to the related Aelurillus affinis and Aelurillus v-insignitus, particularly in the shape of the epigyne. This is rounded with two diagonal copulatory openings. However, the internal structure is more complex than either the other two species.

Distribution
The spider is endemic to central Asia. The holotype was found in Turkmenistan around the mountains of the Kopetdagh in 1985, along with other examples. It was subsequently identified in the Magtymguly District, particularly the Karaelchi Mountain Range, in 1992.