Mantius (spider)

This article is about a genus of spiders. For the Greek mythological person, see Mantius. For the legendary saint, see Mantius of Évora.

Mantius is a spider genus of the jumping spider family, Salticidae.

Mantius
female M. russatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Mantius Thorell, 1891
Type species
Mantius russatus Thorell, 1891
Species
See text.

There is no recent information on any of the five described species from south east Asia. The genus is said to be close to Ptocasius.

Description

Females are 5 to 8 mm (0.20 to 0.31 in) long, males 6 to 10 mm (0.24 to 0.39 in). The cephalothorax is often dark reddish brown. The abdomen is yellowish brown with whitish hairs and plump oval. The legs are yellowish brown except for the front pair, which is reddish brown.

Name

Mantius was the son of Melampus and Lysippe in Greek mythology.

Species

• Mantius armipotens Peckham & Peckham, 1907 – Borneo
• Mantius difficilis Peckham & Peckham, 1907 – Borneo
• Mantius frontosus (Simon, 1899) – Java
• Mantius ravidus (Simon, 1899) – Sumatra
• Mantius russatus Thorell, 1891 – Malaysia

References

• Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
• Platnick, Norman I. (2007): The world spider catalog, version 8.0. American Museum of Natural History.