Udvardya is a genus of jumping spider

Jumping spider

The jumping spider family contains more than 500 described genera and about 5,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders with about 13% of all species. Jumping spiders have some of the best vision among invertebrates and use it in courtship, hunting and navigation...

. Its only species, U. elegans, is endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 to New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

.

The first pair of legs of the male is greatly enlarged and almost looks like a claw. In addition, males have unique "teeth" on their chelicerae (see picture).

Behavior

Nothing is known about the biology of this species, as it is only known from dead specimens. A possible use of the enlarged first legs and the teeth on the chelicerae could be in fights between males.

Name

The genus name is derived from the Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 biologist Miklos Udvardy

Miklos Udvardy

Miklos Dezso Ferenc Udvardy was a biologist and biogeographer. He was born on March 23, 1919 in Debrecen, Hungary to Miklos Udvardy and Elizabeth Komlossy. Despite an early interest in birds, his father encouraged him to study law, but later went on to earn a doctorate in biology from the...

, elegans is Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

for "elegant".

External links

• Diagnostic Drawings Library: Udvardya elegans (photographs and drawings)