Aelurillus brutus

Aelurillus brutus is a medium-sized spider with distinctive features. It has a body that is divided into two parts, a cephalothorax and an abdomen. The female has a dark brown, nearly black, carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax, which is typically 3.2 mm (0.13 in) in length and 2 mm (0.079 in) in width. It has a covering of short white hairs and long brown bristles around the eyes, that sit within a short eye field. The carapace is high and looks stretched in length, with more width towards the back. The underside of the cephalothorax, or sternum, is black and clothed in white hairs. The clypeus, or face of the spider, is dark brown. The chelicerae, part of the mouthparts, are brown, while the remaining mouthparts, its labium and maxillae, have large pale edges but are also otherwise brown. The spider's abdomen is bulgy and also looks stretched, measuring between 4.7 and 4.8 mm (0.19 and 0.19 in) in length and 3.2 and 3.3 mm (0.13 and 0.13 in) in width. The back is pointy and the whole abdomen has a scattering of grey-yellow hairs interspersed with a small number of brown bristles on the back. It is yellowish-grey on the top but lighter underneath. Its spinnerets are also yellowish-grey or brown and its book lung covers are grey. Its legs have long light brown hairs and are either brown-yellow or orange-yellow with patches of brown visible on many specimen. …

Aelurillus brutus is endemic to central Asia. The spider was first found in Gaplaňgyr Nature Reserve on the south Ustyurt Plateau in Turkmenistan. The holotype, a female, was collected in 1985. The spider has also been seen in the Repetek Biosphere State Reserve. In 2003, Azarkina extended the species distribution to include Kazakhstan based on paratypes found on the then-island Barsa-Kelmes, in the Ustyurt Nature Reserve and on the Mangyshlak Peninsula. It is reckoned to live across both western Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.