A medium-sized jumping spider in coastal areas from southern NSW to Exmouth WA, probably in all Australian coastal areas including Tasmania. The body is brown to black, the female having a circular abdomen fringed with white, a white dot in the centre. Legs brownish to nearly black. Cephalothorax with white scales marking out the eye quadrangle, the male's markings more obvious. The male's more slender abdomen has a white crescent above the spinnerets. They hunt during the day by ambush or active pursuit, often on tree trunks, preferring ants but also eating other insects. First described Hasarius orbiculatus by Keyserling in 1881, placed in Pystira by Simon in 1901, transferred to Zenodorus by Zabka and Davies in 1989. Zenodorus was also the name of a Greek mathematician 200-140 BC ♀ 9mm ♂ 7mm
- Female from above
- Male from above
- Female adult, 19609, from above
- Female with ant
- Female adult, brownish, orange legs
- Male adult eating an ant
- Female adult 7610 epigyne with adult from above inset
- Marek Zabka's diagnostic drawings
- References
Female from above
Male from above
Female adult, 19609, from above
Collected mid June 2009 on the northern side of the junction of Fish and Enoggera Creeks, Walton Bridge Reserve, The Gap.
Female with ant
Female adult, brownish, orange legs
Male adult eating an ant
Female adult 7610 epigyne with adult from above inset
This looks like some material resulting from copulation has remained in the female, to plug the epigyne from further entry.
Marek Zabka's diagnostic drawings
References
- Prey-capture techniques and prey preferences of Zenodorus durvillei, Z. metallescens and Z. orbiculatus, tropical ant-eating jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Australia, ROBERT R. JACKSON, DAIQIN LI, New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 299-341
- Spiders of Australia: An Introduction to Their Classification, Biology & Distribution by Trevor J Hawkeswood ISBN: 9546421928
- Hasarius orbiculatus Keyserling, E. 1881. Die Arachniden Australiens. Nürnberg Vol. 1 1272-1324 pp. [1285, pl. 110 figs 1, 2].
- Type data: Syntype(s) MGH ♂♀, Rockhampton, Gayndah, Port Mackay, Peak Downs and Sydney; whereabouts unknown (Mr Bradley's collection), Cape York.
- Zenodorus orbiculatus (Keyserling, 1881). - Davies, V.T. & Zabka, M. 1989. Illustrated keys to the genera of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 27: 189-266 [230, fig. 37] (redescription).
- ABRS - Australian Biological Resources Study: Australian Faunal Directory
