Rarahu is a genus of jumping spiders endemic to Samoa. As of 2017, it contains only one species, Rarahu nitida.[1] Berland probably adapted the genus name Rarahu from Pierre Loti's book of the same name, which was published in 1880. Loti himself either used the rare Tahitian word "rarahu", meaning (amongst other things) "to eat tapu things", or changed the name of the volcano "Raraku".[2] The species name is from Latin nitida "shining", "handsome", or "neat" (a false cognate).

Rarahu
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Rarahu
Species:
R. nitida
Binomial name
Rarahu nitida

Footnotes

edit
  1. ^ a b "Salticidae". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  2. ^ Mabbott 1946

References

edit
  • Mabbott, T.O. (1946): The Origin of Pierre Loti's Name "Rarahu". Modern Language Notes 61(4): 288.
  • Platnick, Norman I. (2007): The world spider catalog, version 8.0. American Museum of Natural History.
edit