Cocalus (spider)

Cocalus is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1846, and is named after Cocalus, a Sicilian king of Greek mythology.[2]

Not to be confused with Eudocima cocalus.

Cocalus
Adult male Cocalus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Spartaeinae
Genus: Cocalus
C. L. Koch, 1846[1]
Type species
C. concolor
C. L. Koch, 1846
Species

6, see text

At least one species, Cocalus gibbosus, does not adhere to spider silk and will sometimes invade the webs of other spiders and stalk across the webs to feed on them,[3] preferring spiders over insects in its diet.[4] However, unlike other araneophagic jumping spiders like Portia, Cocalus gibbosus does not pluck on the webs of other spiders.[3]

Species

As of June 2019 it contains six species, found only in Asia, Australia, and Papua New Guinea:[1]

  • Cocalus concolor C. L. Koch, 1846 (type) – Indonesia, New Guinea
  • Cocalus gibbosus Wanless, 1981 – Australia (Queensland)
  • Cocalus lacinia Sudhin, Nafin, Sumesh & Sudhikumar, 2019 – India
  • Cocalus limbatus Thorell, 1878 – Indonesia
  • Cocalus menglaensis Cao & Li, 2016 – China
  • Cocalus murinus Simon, 1899 – India, Indonesia, Singapore (Sumatra)

References
  1. "Gen. Cocalus C. L. Koch, 1846". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2019. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
  2. Koch, C. L. (1846). Die Arachniden.
  3. Jackson, Robert R. (1990-10-01). "Predatory and nesting behaviour of Cocalus gibbosus, a spartaeine jumping spider (Araneae: Salticidae) from Queensland". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 17 (4): 483–490. doi:10.1080/03014223.1990.10422947. ISSN 0301-4223.
  4. Jackson, Robert R. (2000-01-01). "Prey preferences and visual discrimination ability of Brettus, Cocalus and Cyrba, araneophagic jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Australia, Kenya and Sri Lanka". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 27 (1): 29–39. doi:10.1080/03014223.2000.9518206. ISSN 0301-4223.


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