Apneumonella

{{Short description|Genus of spiders}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Apneumonella taitatavetaensis (10.3897-zookeys.725.15059) Figure 4.jpg | image_caption = ''Apneumonella taitatavetaensis'' | taxon = Apneumonella | authority = Fage, 1921<ref name=NMBE /> | type_species = ''[[Apneumonella oculata]]'' | type_species_authority = Fage, 1921 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = {{Specieslist | [[Apneumonella jacobsoni|A. jacobsoni]]|[[Paolo Brignoli|Brignoli]], 1977 – [[Indonesia]] ([[Sumatra]]), [[Malaysia]] | [[Apneumonella oculata|A. oculata]]|Fage, 1921 – [[Tanzania]] | [[Apneumonella taitatavetaensis|A. taitatavetaensis]]|Zhao & Li, 2017 – [[Kenya]]}} }}

'''''Apneumonella''''' is a [[genus]] of [[Telemidae|long-legged cave spiders]] that was first described by L. Fage in 1921.<ref name=Fage /> It is one of several genera, including ''[[Telema]]'', ''[[Usofila]]'', and ''[[Cangoderces]]'', whose relationship within the family and to these other genera is still poorly understood.<ref name=Brignoli>{{cite journal| last=Brignoli| first=P.M.| year=1977| title=Two new spiders from Sumatra (Araneae, Telemidae and Ochyroceratidae)| journal= Zoologische Mededelingen| volume=50| pages=221–229}}</ref>

==Species== {{as of|2019|09}} it contains three species, found in [[Kenya]], [[Tanzania]], [[Malaysia]], and [[Indonesia]]: ''[[Apneumonella jacobsoni|A. jacobsoni]]'', ''[[Apneumonella oculata|A. oculata]]'', and ''[[Apneumonella taitatavetaensis|A. taitatavetaensis]]''.<ref name=NMBE>{{cite journal| title=Gen. Apneumonella Fage, 1921| website=World Spider Catalog Version 20.0| accessdate=2019-10-14| year=2019| publisher=Natural History Museum Bern| url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/3222| doi=10.24436/2}}</ref>

===''Apneumonella jacobsoni''=== ''Apneumonella jacobsoni'' has been found in Sumatra and Malaysia. It is the first of the family Telemidae to be found in tropical Asia.<ref name=Brignoli/> This species is similar in appearance to those of the family [[Ochyroceratidae]], but several features, including the simple chelicerae, colulus, and the respiratory system consisting of tracheae with four separated stigmata, show that it belongs in the family Telemidae. The first specimen was found in Malaysia, and though the morphology of the genitalia could have earned it a new genus, because the specimen was female, it was instead provisionally placed in existing genus ''Apneumonella'', though it could also have fit in ''[[Cangoderces]]''.<ref name=Brignoli/>

''Apneumonella jacobsoni'' is only known from a single female specimen. Whether or not it belongs in this genus is impossible to say without a described male, and some claim that it would fit better in Cangoderces.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Baert| first=L.| title=Telemidae, Mysmenidae and Ochyroceratidae from Cameroon (Araneae): Scientific report of the Belgian Mount Cameroon Expeditions 1981 and 1983 (no. 13)| journal=Biologisch Jaarboek Dodonaea| volume=53| page=44}}</ref>

===''Apneumonella oculata''=== The first described species of the genus was represented by an adult female found in a cave in Tanzania. Instead of being completely adapted to cave life like many species of ''Telema'', ''A. oculata'' still retains characteristics of life outside caves, including retaining its eyes, at least partial skin pigmentation, and relatively short legs.<ref name=Fage>{{cite journal| last=Fage| first=L.| year=1921| title=Sur quelques araignées apneumones| journal=Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris| volume=172| pages=620–622| language=French}}</ref> The abdomen is white, though parts of the carapace, mouth, [[Cribellum|colulus]], and some other parts are red to brown. The carapace is slightly longer than wide, truncated in the rear, and convex toward the middle, slowly sloping in the thoracic part. There are six eyes in total. This species was placed among the ''Leptonetidae'' in the subfamily ''Teleminae'', as but the relative proportions of the legs doesn't quite fit. The formula I <II <IV <III is specific to ''Telema tenella'', but does not apply to this species. This may mean that ''Telema'' and ''Apneumonella'' belong in a separate group from that of ''Leptonetidae''.<ref name=Simon>{{cite journal| last1=Simon| first1=E.| last2=Fage| first2=L.| year=1922| title=Araneae des grottes de l'Afrique orientale. In: Biospeologica, XLIV| journal=Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale| volume=60| pages=523–555| language=French}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Telemidae genera]] [[Category:Spiders of Africa]] [[Category:Telemidae]]