Pseudicius procerus

Pseudicius procerus is a species of jumping spider in the genus Pseudicius that ilves in South Africa. The spider was first defined in 2018 by Wanda Wesołowska and Charles Haddad. The spider is small, with a cephalothorax between 1.6 and 2.0 mm long and an abdomen between 1.8 and 2.04 mm long. It is dark brown with a distinctive pattern on the abdomen. The male has a lattice-like design of white stripes and the female has three stripes, the rearmost broken in chevrons. The male has stout brown legs while the female has whitish-yellow, except the front legs, which are dark brown, longer and thicker. The species is similar to the related Pseudicius matabelensis but differs in its copulatory organs. The female has two pockets at the front of the epigyne and long seminal ducts leading to elongated spermathecae. The male has a very long curved tibial apophysis, or spike, and a medium-sized embolus that is attached to the tegulum.

Taxonomy
Pseudicius procerus is a jumping spider that was first described by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska and Charles Haddad in 2011. It was one of more than 500 species that Wesołowska identified in her career, making her one of the most prolific in the discipline. They allocated the species to the genus Pseudicius, first raised by Eugène Simon in 1885. The genus name is related to two Greek words that can be translated false and honest. The genus was provisionally placed alongside Icius that, despite looking superficially similar, has a different etymology. Indeed, Ekaterina Andreeva, Stefania Hęciak and Jerzy Prószyński looked to combine the genera in 1984. The two genera have similar spermathecal structure but work by Wayne Maddison in 1987 demonstrated that they have very different DNA. The two genera were placed in the tribe Heliophaninae alongside Afraflacilla and Marchena.The tribe is ubiquitous across most continents of the world. Maddison renamed the tribe Chrysillini in 2015. The tribe is a member of the clade Saltafresia within the subfamily Salticoida. A year later, in 2016, Jerzy Prószyński allocated the genus to the Pseudiciines group of genera, which was named after the genus. Marchena is a member of the group, while Icius is not. They have flattened and elongated body and a characteristic colour pattern. The species name is derived from a Latin word that can be translated longer or elongate.

Description
Pseudicius procerus is a small spider. The male has a cephalothorax that is between 1.8 and 2.0 mm long and between 1.3 and 1.4 mm wide. The carapace is oval and flat, dark brown apart from a patch of white hairs in the very middle and black-lined white streaks on the sides, with a covering of delicate colourless hairs. There is a streak in the middle It has a black eye field with long thin bristles around the eyes themselves. The spider has a low clypeus covered in white hairs. The abdomen is between 1.8 and 2.0 mm long and between 1.2 and 1.3 mm wide. It is dark brown and ovoid with two a lattice-like pattern of white stripes running down the middle crossed by three other white stripes running from side to side, one at the very front, another in the middle and the last near the rear. The underside is yellowish-brown and the spinnerets are dark. The chelicerae are dark brown while the labium and sternum are light brown. The legs are brown and a sparse covering of very long brown hairs. The forelegs are longer, thicker and darker. The spider has row of stiff bristles below the eye field and short bristles on its femur that it uses to stridulate. The pedipalps are brown. There is a single very long, pointed and slightly curved tibial apophysis, and a medium-sized embolus that joins to the ovsl tegulum.

The female is similar to the male. The carapace is approximately the same size, measuring typically 1.6 mm long and 1.2 mm wide. It is generally lighter, particularly to the rear, with a more indistinct pattern. The abdomen is typically 2.04 mm long and 1.3 mm wide. It has similarly dark brown with a lighter pattern. The design is different to the male. Instead of two stripes down the middle there is a vague stripe to the rear while the lateral stripes are more distinct and the rearmost stripe is broken so that it looks more like chevrons. The underside is light. The spinnerets are greyish and the legs, apart from the brown front legs, are whitish-yellow. The epigyne has two pockets to the front and copulatory openings to the rear. The spider has long looping insemination ducts that lead to elongated spermathecae that lie longwise at the rear of the epigyne.

The species is similar to Pseudicius matabelensis but differs in the design of its copulatory organs. The male can be distinguished by the shape of the spike on the palpal tibia, longer embolus and more oval palpal bulb. The female has longer and broader seminal ducts.

Distribution and habitat
Pseudicius spiders can be found across Afro-Eurasia and the Eastern hemisphere. Pseudicius procerus is endemic to South Africa and Zimbabwe. The holotype was found near Kakamas in Northern Cape during 2017. It is a tree-dwelling spider that lives in Nama Karoo habitats. It particularly can be found in small shrubs and bushes.