Sibirocosa alpina is a species of wolf spider

Wolf spider

Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, from the Ancient Greek word "" meaning "wolf". They are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. They live mostly solitary lives and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short...

 only known from the Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

 area of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

.

This species, only known from two female specimens, was placed in Sibirocosa on the basis of similarities in the genitalia. The authors who described the species admit its placement in this genus is possibly problematic due to morphological differences and especially as its known range is 2500 km (1,553 mi) from the nearest presumed congener in Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

, S. sibirica

Sibirocosa sibirica

Sibirocosa sibirica is a species of wolf spider. It has a fairly wide distribution in Siberia: from the Putorana Plateau east to the Chersky Range and south to northern Transbaikal....

. The correct placement of this species should become clearer once the male has been found and described.

This spider has a body length of up to 5.75 mm and has shorter legs than other Sibirocosa species. It is distinctively marked: the front of the cephalothorax

Cephalothorax

The cephalothorax is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. The word cephalothorax is derived from the Greek words for head and thorax...

 (where the eyes are located) is black with two longitudinal brown stripes; the carapace

Carapace

A carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...

 is brown with paler stripes; the abdomen is blackish with a broad brown stripe down the middle. The legs

Arthropod leg

The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus, ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus ,...

 have pale rings and differ from other Sibirocosa species by having a smaller number (3 vs. 4) of ventral tibial spines.