Kikimora palustris

Kikimora is a monotypic genus of dwarf spiders containing the single species, Kikimora palustris. It was first described by K. Y. Eskov in 1988,[2] and has only been found in Finland, Norway, and Russia.[1]

Kikimora palustris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Linyphiidae
Genus: Kikimora
Eskov, 1988[1]
Species:
K. palustris
Binomial name
Kikimora palustris
Eskov, 1988

Derivation of name
The Russian swamp-goblin Kikimora after whom is named the spider Kikimora palustris. Art work by symbolist painter Vasiliy Ivanovich Denisov (1862-1922).

When Eskov discovered this genus of sheetweaver spiders he used for it the name of the Russian bogeywoman (and personification of nightmare and sleep paralysis) Kikimora - specifically the type of Kikimora imagined to inhabit swamps (in further reference to the specific name palustris "of the marsh") and to be married to the forest-spirit Leshy.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Gen. Kikimora Eskov, 1988". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2019. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  2. Eskov, K. Y. (1988). "Seven new monotypic genera of spiders of the family Linyphiidae (Aranei) from Siberia". Zoologicheskiĭ Zhurnal. 67: 678–690.
  3. Sokolov, Yuriy M. (1971) [1950]. Russian Folklore. Translated by Smith, Catherine R. Detroit: Folklore Associates. pp. 26–404. ISBN 978-0-8103-5020-5.


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