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Salticidae Myrmarachne

Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839

Black-headed Ant Jumper

The pedicel in both sexes is characteristically long, longer than the distance between the ALE and PLE. The abdomen is slightly constricted, often with two colour zones. Although "melanocephala" means "black head" in Latin, the cephalic region is not necessarily black in all specimens. The overall body colouration can range from orange to black, or a mixture of both colours. Despite such colour variation, otherwise known as "polymorphism", the different colour "morphs" show identical genitalia structures, thus making identification of this species easy.

Length♀ 5-7 mm; ♂ 5–8 mm, including chelicerae
Type LocalityBengal, India
DistributionSingapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan.
HabitatFoliage in gardens, nature parks, and edges of disturbed forest.

Taxonomy

Type Deposits*

  1. Holotype

    National Zoological Collections, Zoological Survey of India (NZC-ZSI), Kolkata, India; ♀ of Mymarachne calcuttaensis (Caleb & Joseph, 2025b)

Taxonomic references*

  1. Myrmarachne melanocephala (Original description ♂)

    MacLeay, 1839 On some new forms of Arachnida: 11, pl. 1, f. 4

  2. Myrmecia melanocephala (Original description ♀)

    Walckenaer, 1841 Histoire naturelle des Insects. Aptères. Tome deuxième: 462 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61095

  3. Myrmarachne melanocephala (type locality is "Bengal," not Cuba)

    Galiano, 1969b Salticidae (Araneae) formiciformes: 146

  4. Myrmarachne orientales (Original description ♂♀)

    Tikader, 1973b Studies on some ant-like spiders from India (family: Salticidae): 60, f. 3-6

  5. Myrmarachne orientales (♀)

    Tikader & Biswas, 1981 Spider fauna of Calcutta and vicinity: Part-I: 105, f. 193-194

  6. Myrmarachne orientalis (lapsus)

    Brignoli, 1983c A catalogue of the Araneae described between 1940 and 1981: 644

  7. Myrmarachne calcuttaensis (Original description ♀)

    Biswas, 1984a Description of six new species of spiders of the families Clubionidae, Gnaphosidae and Salticidae from India: 126, f. 17-19

  8. Myrmarachne orientales (♂)

    Mushtaq et al., 1995 Myrmarachne maratha Tikader and Myrmarachne orientales Tikader (Araneae: Salticidae), two new records to Pakistan: 91, f. 1A-F

  9. Myrmarachne melanocephala (mf, Synonym of Myrmarachne albicrurata, M. lateralis [both rejected by Prószyński, 2017b: 101, see Edwards & Benjamin, 2009 A first look at the phylogeny of the Myrmarachninae, with rediscovery and redescription of the type species of Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae): 5, f. 1A-H, 2A-D, 3A-D, 4A-E, 5A-D doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2309.1.1

  10. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂♀)

    Yamasaki & Ahmad, 2013 Taxonomic study of the genus Myrmarachne of Borneo (Araneae: Salticidae): 541, f. 32A-G, 33A-H, 34A-C doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3710.6.1

  11. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂♀)

    Yamasaki & Edwards, 2013 The genus Myrmarchne (Araneae, Salticidae) in Flores, Indonesia: 15, f. 46-58 doi:10.3897/zookeys.299.4970

  12. Myrmarachne orientales (♀)

    Sen et al., 2015 Spiders (Araneae: Arachnida) of reserve forests of Dooars: Gorumara National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary and Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary: 42, f. 152-156, pl. 14

  13. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂, Synonym of Myrmarachne orientales)

    Benjamin, 2015b Model mimics: antlike jumping spiders of the genus Myrmarachne from Sri Lanka: 2625, f. 17A-D, 18A-D, 19A-D doi:10.1080/00222933.2015.1034209

  14. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♀)

    Roy, Saha & Raychaudhuri, 2016 A treatise on the jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) of tea ecosystem of Dooars, West Bengal, India: 24, f. 20A-F, 25I, 27R

  15. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂♀)

    Caleb, 2016c Taxonomic notes on some ant-mimicking jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from India: 410, f. 20-30 doi:10.15298/arthsel.25.4.09

  16. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♀)

    Dhali, Saha & Raychaudhuri, 2017 Litter and ground dwelling spiders (Araneae: Arachnida) of reserve forests of Dooars, West Bengal: 39, f. 105-109, pl. 17

  17. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂♀)

    Prószyński, 2017b Pragmatic classification of the world's Salticidae (Araneae): 103, f. 45B1, 45C9, 46B doi:10.37828/em.2017.12.1

  18. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♀)

    Prószyński, 2018b Review of genera Evarcha and Nigorella, with comments on Emertonius, Padilothorax [sic], Stagetillus, and description of five new genera and two new species (Araneae: Salticidae): 165, f. 19B, 22E1 doi:10.37828/em.2018.16.12

  19. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂♀)

    Kumar, Sharma & Sharma, 2021 New record of Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (Araneae: Salticidae) from Jharkhand, India and biogeographical implications of the co-occurrence of its ant model Tetraponera rufonigra Jerdon, 1851: 19755, f. 2A-D, 3, 4A-E doi:10.11609/jott.7500.13.12.19753-19761

  20. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♂♀)

    Chanu et al., 2024 Morphometrical aspects of two Myrmarachne species from Manipur: 2057, f. 1-19 doi:10.59467/jez.2024.27.2.2057

  21. Myrmarachne melanocephala (♀, Synonym of Myrmarachne calcuttaensis)

    Caleb & Joseph, 2025b On the synonymy of Myrmarachne calcuttaensis Biswas, 1984 (Araneae: Salticidae): 22, f. 1-6 doi:10.25221/fee.521.3

* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.

Distribution Map for Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839

Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan.

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