Kolkata: Zoological Survey of India (ZSI researchers have recently discovered four new species of jumping spiders from various places across the country, including one from Bengal. The new discoveries include species from the genus Phintella: P. dentis, P. handersoni, P. luna and
P. Rajbharathi.
Phintella luna, discovered from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, has been named ‘luna’ based on copulatory ducts resembling the moon. The discovery marks the occasion to recognise ISRO’s successful Chandrayaan-3 landing close to the South Pole of the moon for the first time during the third Indian lunar expedition.
The species Phintella dentis discovered in Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka, was named so because of its unique cheliceral teeth. Phintella handersoni from the Anderson Tea Estate of Meghalaya, was named in honour of the late Handerson Syiemlieh, owner of the tea estate. Phintella rajbharathi has been named after the collector of the specimen from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
The genus Phintella is one of the most diverse genera in the jumping spider family ‘Salticidae’ which currently accommodates 76 described species, of which 18 are from India. The members are small, and adorned with colourful, and iridescent scales, commonly found in the Old World, and Australia.
Two members of the researcher team from ZSI Kolkata, Souvik Sen and Sudhin P. P along with John T.D. Caleb from Saveetha University, Chennai also participated in this study. Earlier, in March 2023, the researchers described two other species of the genus Phintella:P. dhritiae and P. platnicki from Southern India.
Dhriti Banerjee, director, ZSI, said: “More surveys and systematics sampling across India may uncover several undescribed species, which are unique to India”. The paper was published in the latest January 2024 issue of ‘Zoosystematics and Evolution’- an international peer-reviewed life science journal.