Color phot.: [coriacea = Afromarengo c. by Murphy ] [ Marengo - by Jackson] [from Kenya] [nitida] [rattotensis]
TYPE SPECIES: [M. crassipes by Proszynski] [M. crassipes by Wanless] [ and ... Scanning Microphotographs] [M. inornata ] [nitida] [rattotensis] [M. striatipes]
Transfered to other genera: [Afromarengo coriacea][ and ... Scanning Microphotographs ] [lyrifera ] Cynapes [ canosus] [ Indomarengo thomsoni ] [Leikung porosa - by Wanless and Benjamin][[from Borneo by Proszynski ] [from Malaysia by Proszynski ] [Scanning Microphotographs] [Philates [chelifer][courti] [grammicus][ platnicki] [proszynskii] [rafalskii][variratae ] See also: Colaxes nitidiventris]
Diagnoses of genera
of South East Asia: 51.4 Colourful mimics of ?wasps or ?beetles.
Found on shrubs.
Genus: Marengo. This genus consists of small spiders whose shape
and colour pattern suggest they are mimicking some creature. Some authors
suggest they mimic ants or even pseudoscorpions, but we remain unconvinced.
Typically the cephalothorax is flattish and in plan is longer than wide. It
is widest just behind the rear eyes, tapering gradually to a wide truncate
front and forms a broadening oval to the rear. The texture varies from a covering
of piliferous papillae to a honeycomb of piliferous ridges. The abdomen is
flattish and oval, slightly truncate at the front. Males have a complete dorsal
scutum. The colour of both carapace and abdomen varies from uniform dark brown
in some species to light brown with transverse yellow bands in other species.
The front legs are large, sometimes even enormous, compared with the other
legs which are of normal size. The front legs are usually folded and jutting
sideways. Indeed their shape suggests that it is almost impossible for the
front legs to be straightened out. The front tibiae are always enlarged and
the tarsi and metatarsi always small, whilst the femora and patellae are often,
but not always, enlarged. The front tibiae and metatarsi respectively carry,
ventrally, 3 pairs and 2 pairs of short, stout, black spines. The front tibiae
also carry ventrally a substantial fringe of black hairs. The front legs are
dark, usually brown whilst the other legs are essentially yellow with some
black or brown marks. For salticids with swollen front legs, it is curious
how often this kind of leg pattern and colouring occurs. Because of some of
the variation encountered, Wanless, in his Marengo revision of 1978,
began to wonder if all the species that he had considered were in fact congeneric
even though they were clearly very closely related.
Distribution: Marengo is a tropical genus known from Africa
to Borneo, with most species coming from Sri Lanka. Murphy
& Murphy 2000: 311. By courtesy of the Authors' and the Malaysian
Nature Society.
Copyright © for the page by J. Proszynski, 2000.