{{short description|Genus of arachnids (junior synonym of Salticus)}} {{italic title}} {{for|the Ainu bark cloth {{transliteration|ain|attus}}|Ainu bark cloth}} '''''Attus''''' is a taxon name that is now considered a junior synonym of ''Salticus''. In the early 19th century, most jumping spiders were grouped together as a single genus under the name ''Attus''.<ref name="Proszynski"/>
The genus was originally described in 1805 by Charles Walckenaer,<ref name="Walckenaer"/> only a year after Pierre Latreille described the first jumping spider genus (or subgenus), ''Salticus''.<ref name="Latreille1804"/> Walckenaer, ignoring Latreille, placed all of the spiders assigned to ''Salticus'' into his new genus, ''Attus'', with the exception of ''Aranea cinnaberinus'', which he placed into ''Eresus''. No further actions were taken regarding these genera until 1810, when Latreille moved ''Attus scenicus'' back to ''Salticus'' by declaring it as the type species for the genus.<ref name="Pickard-Cambridge1901"/>
Over the course of the 19th century, numerous new genera were split off of ''Attus'', reducing the number of species assigned to the genus considerably. In 1832, Nicholas Marcellus Hentz detached the genera ''Lyssomanes'', ''Synemosyna'', and ''Epiblemum'' from ''Attus''.<ref name="Peckham1885"/> In 1833, Carl Sundevall moved numerous species from ''Attus'' to ''Salticus''.<ref name="Peckham1885"/> From 1833 to 1850, Carl Ludwig Koch created 24 new jumping spider genera, most of which were detached from ''Attus''.<ref name="Peckham1885"/>
Due to the genus's unclear definition, it was often used as a provisional classification for any jumping spiders that could not otherwise be assigned to a genus.<ref name="Proszynski"/><ref name="Peckham1888"/> In 1955, Pierre Bonnet declared ''Attus'' to be a junior synonym of ''Salticus'', since Walckenaer did not differentiate ''Attus'' from ''Salticus'' and the latter has priority as an older name.<ref name="Bonnet1955"/>
==References== {{reflist|1|refs=
<ref name="Bonnet1955">{{cite book|title=Bibliographia Araneorum|first=Pierre|last=Bonnet|volume=2|year=1955|location=Toulouse, France|language=French|page=781}}</ref>
<ref name="Latreille1804">{{cite journal|title=Tableau methodique des Insectes|last=Latreille|first=Pierre André|year=1804|journal=Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle|location=Paris|volume=24|page=135}}</ref>
<ref name="Peckham1885">{{cite journal|last1=Peckham|first1=George|last2=Peckham|first2=Elizabeth|title=Genera of the Family Attidae: With a Partial Synonymy|year=1885|journal=Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters|volume=6|page=261|url=http://www.peckhamia.com/editions/Peckham%201885%20Genera%20of%20the%20family%20Attidae%20with%20a%20partial%20synonymy.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Peckham1888">{{cite journal|last1=Peckham|first1=George|last2=Peckham|first2=Elizabeth|title=Attidae of North America|year=1888|journal=Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters|volume=7|page=8|url=http://www.peckhamia.com/editions/Peckham%201888%20Attidae%20of%20North%20America.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Pickard-Cambridge1901">{{cite journal|first=Frederick Octavius|last=Pickard-Cambridge|title=A Revision of the Genera of the Araneae or Spiders with Reference to their Type Species|journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History|location=London|year=1901|volume=9|page=65}}</ref>
<ref name="Proszynski">{{cite web|first=Jerzy|last=Proszynski|year=2002|url=http://www.salticidae.org/salticid/catalog/attus.htm|title=''Attus''|work=Catalogue of Salticidae (Araneae)|accessdate=2009-11-23}}</ref>
<ref name="Walckenaer">{{cite book|first=Charles Athanase|last=Walckenaer|title=Tableau des aranéides ou caractères essentiels des tribus, genres, familles et races que renferme le genre Aranea de Linné, avec la désignation des espèces comprises dans chacune de ces divisions|location=Paris|language=French|year=1805}}</ref>
}}
Category:Obsolete spider taxa Category:Salticidae