Brettus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Classis: Arachnida
Ordo: Araneae
Subordo: Opisthothelae
Infraordo: Araneomorphae
Taxon: Neocribellatae
Series: Entelegynae
Sectio: Dionycha
Superfamilia: Salticoidea

Familia: Salticidae
Subfamilia: Spartaeinae
Subtribus: Cocalodini - Lapsiini - Spartaeini
Overview of genera

Brettus – Cocalus – Cyrba – Gelotia – Meleon – Mintonia – Neobrettus – Paracyrba – Phaeacius – Portia – Sparbambus – Spartaeus – Taraxella – Veissella – Wanlessia – Yaginumanis – †Almolinus – †Cenattus – †Eolinus – †Paralinus
Name

Spartaeinae Wanless, 1984
References
Primary references

Wanless, F. R. 1984. A review of the spider subfamily Spartaeinae nom. n. (Araneae: Salticidae) with descriptions of six new genera. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Zoology) 46: 135–205.

Additional references

Maddison, W.P. 2015. A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology 43(3):231–292. DOI: 10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. full article (PDF). Reference page.
Rodrigo, A.G.; Jackson, R.R. 1992: Four jumping spider genera of the Cocalodes-group are monophyletic with genera of the Spartaeinae (Araneae: Salticidae). New Zealand natural sciences, 19: 61–67.

The Spartaeinae are a subfamily of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). The subfamily was established by Fred R. Wanless in 1984[1] to include the groups Boetheae, Cocaleae, Lineae, Codeteae and Cyrbeae, which in turn were defined by Eugène Simon.[2]

The Spartaeinae are palaeotropical, with an exceptional diversity in the Malaysian and Indonesian archipelagos.[3]

They are unusual salticids that are considered basal to the phylogenetic tree of jumping spiders. Like the Lyssomaninae they lack many derived features that the Salticinae possess.[4] Spartaeinae usually have large posterior median eyes. However, these were reduced in the genera Cyrba, Gelotia and Wanlessia.[5]
Genera

In 2015, Spartaeinae was divided into three tribes with 29 genera.[6] One has been added since.[7]
Tribe Cocalodini

Allococalodes Wanless, 1982
Cocalodes Pocock, 1897
Cucudeta Maddison, 2009
Depreissia Lessert, 1942
Tabuina Maddison, 2009
Yamangalea Maddison, 2009

Tribe Lapsiini

Amilaps Maddison, 2019[7]
Galianora Maddison, 2006
Lapsamita Ruiz, 2013
Lapsias Simon, 1900
Soesiladeepakius Makhan, 2007
Thrandina Maddison, 2006

Tribe Spartaeini

Brettus Thorell, 1895
Cocalus C. L. Koch, 1846
Cyrba Simon, 1876
Gelotia Thorell, 1890
Holcolaetis Simon, 1886
Meleon Wanless, 1984
Mintonia Wanless, 1984
Neobrettus Wanless, 1984
Paracyrba Żabka & Kovac, 1996
Phaeacius Simon, 1900
Portia Karsch, 1878
Sonoita Peckham & Peckham, 1903
Sparbambus Zhang, Woon & Li, 2006
Spartaeus Thorell, 1891
Taraxella Wanless, 1984
Veissella Wanless, 1984
Wanlessia Wijesinghe, 1992
Yaginumanis Wanless, 1984

References

Wanless, Fred R. (1984). "A review of the spider subfamily Spartaeinae nom. n. (Araneae:Salticidae) with descriptions of six genera". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology Series. 42 (4): 263–298.
Simon, E. (1901). Histoire naturelle des araignées (in French). Vol. 2, part 3. pp. 381–668.
Wijesinghe, D.P. (1992). "A new genus of jumping spider from Borneo with notes on the Spartaeine palp (Araneae: Salticidae)" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 40: 9–19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
Maddison, Wayne P. (1995). "Spartaeinae". The Tree of Life Web Project Version 1. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
Zhang, J.X.; Woon, J.R.W. & Li, D. (2006). "A new genus and species of jumping spiders (Araneae:Salticidae:Spartaeinae) from Malaysia" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 54 (2): 241–244. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
Maddison, Wayne P. (November 2015). "A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 43 (3): 231–292. doi:10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. S2CID 85680279. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
Maddison, W.P. (2019), "A new lapsiine jumping spider from North America, with a review of Simon's Lapsias species (Araneae, Salticidae, Spartaeinae)", ZooKeys (891): 17–29, doi:10.3897/zookeys.891.38563, PMC 6882923, PMID 31802970

Brettus is a genus of jumping spiders. Its six described species are found in southern Asia from India to China and Sulawesi, with a single species endemic to Madagascar.

Two species in this genus, B. celebensis and B. madagascarensis, were originally described as members of the genus Macopaeus.[1]

According to Thorell, the genus name is taken from Greek mythology. Brettos (Βρεττος) was a son of Heracles[2] (appears at Stephanus of Byzantium).
Diet and behaviour

At least 2 species, Brettus cingulatus and Brettus adonis, feed on other spiders. Taking advantage of their ability to not adhere to any kind of spider silk, they practise aggressive mimicry and pluck upon the webs of web-building spiders to lure them over to the Brettus at the edge of the web, where they capture/stab their victim.[3] These two spider species also prefer web-building spiders to insects as prey. They are in these regards similar to the other Spartaeinae jumping spiders of genera Portia, Cyrba and Gelotia.[4]
Species

Brettus adonis Simon, 1900 — Sri Lanka
Brettus anchorum Wanless, 1979 — India, Nepal
Brettus celebensis (Merian, 1911) — Sulawesi
Brettus cingulatus Thorell, 1895 — India, Myanmar
Brettus madagascarensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1903) — Madagascar
Brettus storki Logunov & Azarkina, 2008 — Borneo

Footnotes

World Spider Catalog
Greek Mythology Index: Brettus
Jackson, Robert R.; Hallas, Susan E. A. (1986-10-01). "Predatory versatility and intraspecific interactions of spartaeine jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae): Brettus adonis, B. cingulatus, Cyrba algerina, and Phaeacius sp. indet". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 13 (4): 491–520. doi:10.1080/03014223.1986.10422979. ISSN 0301-4223.

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.

References

Platnick, Norman I. (2009): The world spider catalog, version 9.5. American Museum of Natural History.