Kikimora palustris

Kikimora palustris
Scientific 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

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]

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

• List of Linyphiidae species (I–P)
• Kikimora
• Domovoy
• Folklore of Russia

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.