Attus
Introduction '''''Attus''''' is a taxon name that is now considered a junior synonym of ''Salticus''. In the early 19th century, most jumping spiders were grouped together as a single genus under the name ''Attus''.The genus was originally described in 1805 by Charles Walckenaer, only a year after Pierre Latreille described the first jumping spider genus (or subgenus), ''Salticus''. Walckenaer, ignoring  Latreille, placed all of the spiders assigned to ''Salticus'' into his new genus, ''Attus'', with the exception of ''Aranea cinnaberinus'', which he placed into ''Eresus''. No further actions were taken regarding these genera until 1810, when Latreille moved ''Attus scenicus'' back to ''Salticus'' by declaring it as the type species for the genus.Over the course of the 19th century, numerous new genera were split off of ''Attus'', reducing the number of species assigned to the genus considerably. In 1832, Nicholas Marcellus Hentz detached the genera ''Lyssomanes'', ''Synemosyna'', and ''Epiblemum'' from ''Attus''. In 1833, Carl Sundevall moved numerous species from ''Attus'' to ''Salticus''. From 1833 to 1850, Carl Ludwig Koch created 24 new jumping spider genera, most of which were detached from ''Attus''.Due to the genus's unclear definition, it was often used as a provisional classification for any jumping spiders that could not otherwise be assigned to a genus. In 1955, Pierre Bonnet declared ''Attus'' to be a junior synonym of ''Salticus'', since Walkenaer did not differentiate ''Attus'' from ''Salticus'' and the latter has priority as an older name.
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