Salticidae (Araneae) genera of the world - an atlas
(unfinished manuscript)
by Jerzy Prószyński

Professor Emeritus, Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences,
ul. Wilcza 63, 00-679 Warsaw, POLAND

e-mail: jerzy.proszynski@wp.pl

Chapter 21

BELIPPINES
informal group of genera
Version May 20th, 2020


symbol of the supragroup MYRMARACHNOIDA

Composition and links. Belippo Leviea Levieina Agorioides Papuamyr. Read also: Taxonomic position of Myrmarachne and related genera

Exemplary representatives of the group
A-B - Belippo meridionalis, C - Belippo pulchra.
SOURCE: Wesolowska & Haddad [2013]. All ©copyrights are retained by the original authors and copyright holders, used here by their courtesy.

Introduction

It takes proverbial "three glances" (now the Pragmatic Classification's logo) at palp structure (below) and at internal structure of correctly prepared epigyne to identify and correctly classify Belippo sp. specimens, while general appearance of a specimen separates if from Myrmarachne. But it took 50 years of floods of pompous words of descriptions (see facsimiles below) at " Literature views on taxonomy of Belippo" subchapter - below) and wild guesses on relationship, from Roewer (1965: 78) through Edwards (in Edwards & Benjamin, 2009) to resolve that taxonomic problem. It was Wesołowska, who in series of papers (2013, 2014, 2015 - coauthored with Haddad and Wiśniewski respectively) and using methods of drawing and preparation used by Prószyński and his collaborators since 1960, who finally documented internal structure of epigyne in Belippo permitting finally to classify that genus. Further progress was achieved by Maddison & Szűts, 2019 the three more genera, which they consider a new subtribe - Levieina.

Mutual diagnostic characters of genera included. BELIPPINES resembles MYRMARACHNINES by parallel "pipes" of sclerotized spermathecae and by delicate, membranous ducts, invisible without staining (I used Chlorazaol Black E for that). Genus Belippo differs from Myrmarachne by exceptional tibial apophysis - a sclerotized, short sickle, sitting atop transparent membranous basis - characterized in descriptions as "movable", its function remain a mystery. Levieina has still different apophysis (see drawings below). Opinions on ant-likenes of BELIPPINES is exageration.
Description. Bulbus round, encircled with hair thin embolus, spermophor runs along the contour of bulbus, with small additional, flattened loop. Females differing from other genera by expanded globular vesicle in anterior part of "pipe" like spermathecae, copulatory ducts in a form of extremely complicated membranous loops, visible only in cleared and stained preparations, discovered only recently by Wesołowska and her coauthors (2012, 2013, 2014). Ant likeness weakly developed, with abdomen and carapace only indistinctly constricted, or not at all, and a short pedicel. Male chelicerae long, plulridentate, in females short with comb like tooth.

Gen. Belippo Simon, 1909
Type species Belippo anguina (11 recognizable species)
See more species at Belippo -Q+M

A - Belippo anguina, B-C - Belippo attenuata, D - Belippo meridionalis, E - Belippo ibadan, F - Belippo milloti, G-H - Belippo pulchra,
SOURCE: A - Wanless 1978a., Bull. brit. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool.), 33, (1): 7-9, f. 4a,b, d, B-C, G-H - Wesołowska, W. & Haddad, C. R. (2014): 233, f. 8-10, 12-19, D - Wesołowska, W. & Haddad (2013): 186, f. 3, 15, 36-42, E - Wesołowska, W. & Russell-Smith, A. (2011). 563, f. 35-39, Wesołowska, F - W. & Wiśniewski, K. (2015). 552, f. 22-23;462, f. 5-9, 73-74.
All ©copyrights are retained by the original authors and copyright holders, used here by their courtesy.

Gen. Leviea Maddison & Szűts, 2019

Comment. Maddison & Szűts, 2019 consider the three genera, listed below, as new subtribe Levieina, a sister to his subtribe Myrmarachnina. They may be right, of course, but I wish to call attention to similarity of internal structure of epigyne of Levieina (Fig. C, below) to that in Belippo, because of which I propose to place them rather into informal group of genera BELIPPINES. I include data from the Maddison & Szűts, 2019 paper below, although it was published beyond time limit for the present paper, because of exceptional value and beauty of the publication, and especially usage of spermathecae and duct as a very important diagnostic characters.

Figure - .B-- . Leviea lornae amd Leviea sp.
SOURCE: :Maddison, W. P. & Szűts, T. (2019). Myrmarachnine jumping spiders of the new subtribe Levieina from Papua New Guinea (Araneae, Salticidae, Myrmarachnini). ZooKeys 842: 85-11. All ©copyrights are retained by the original authors and copyright holders, used here by their courtesy.

Gen. Agorioides Maddison & Szűts, 2019

Agorioides cherubino and Agorioides papagena
SOURCE: Maddison & Szűt (2019). Myrmarachnine jumping spiders of the new subtribe Levieina from Papua New Guinea (Araneae, Salticidae, Myrmarachnini). ZooKeys 842: 100, f. 42-59.

Gen. Papuamyr Maddison & Szűts, 2019

Papuamyr omhifosga
SOURCE: Maddison & Szut (2019). Myrmarachnine jumping spiders of the new subtribe Levieina from Papua New Guinea (Araneae, Salticidae, Myrmarachnini). ZooKeys 842: 104, f. 66-77.
All ©copyrights are retained by the original authors and copyright holders, used here by their courtesy.

Literature views on taxonomy of Belippo

AAaa
Aa
Figure - . Wanless' presentation of diagmostic characters of Belippo and its diagnosis. NOTE large number of characters to be checked and conditional description of function of tibial apophysis.
SOURCE:
Facsimile of
Wanless, F. R. (1978a). . Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Zool.) 33: 5, 7.All ©copyrights are retained by the original authors and copyright holders, used here by their courtesy.

A1
Figure - . Facsimiles of Dr. G.B. Edwards' comments on Belippo. NOTE extensive consideration of function of tibial apophysis (without documentation).
SOURCE: Edwards & Benjami (2009). A first look at the phylogeny of the Myrmarachninae, with rediscovery and redescription of the type species of Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae). Zootaxa 2309: 12-13, 22, f. 8.

A3
All enthusiasts of ultra-modern molecular phylogeny will certainly appreciate the above summary of taxonomy of the genus Belippo - its exquisite clarity and intellectual profoundness, an unsurpassed wealth of data, predigested and given to a reader in a nut's shell. Single look and you understands everything, seeing it once you will never need to look at it again.
SOURCE: Edwards & Benjami (2009). A first look at the phylogeny of the Myrmarachninae, with rediscovery and redescription of the type species of Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae). Zootaxa 2309: 12-13, 22, f. 8.