Aphonopelma

Aphonopelma
Female Aphonopelma seemanni
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Chelicerata
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Infraorder:Mygalomorphae
Family:Theraphosidae
Genus:Aphonopelma
Pocock, 1901[1]
Type species
Eurypelma seemanni
Species

See text.

Diversity
61–87 species, depending on the source
Synonyms

Apachepelma Smith, 1995
Chaunopelma Chamberlin, 1940
Delopelma Petrunkevitch, 1939
Dugesiella Pocock, 1901
Gosipelma Chamberlin, 1940
Rhechostica Simon, 1892

Aphonopelma is a genus of tarantulas, members of which are native to the Americas. It includes nearly all of the North American tarantulas north of Mexico and a considerable part of the tarantulas which range into Central America. About 90 species have been described, but many, if not most, of these are inadequately studied and very little is known about them. Most are large, and like other New World tarantulas, they have urticating hairs. Most are docile in captivity. Their taxonomy is poorly understood and species are difficult to tell apart, especially those that are brown or black without other pattern. In captivity, they are usually fed crickets; in the wild, they eat most insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, mantises, and beetles. Most species found in the Southwestern United States have an adult legspan of 4.5 in (11.5 cm), though some Arizona species have been known, on occasion, to exceed 6 in (16 cm).


Taxonomy

The genus has a complicated taxonomic history. It was erected in 1901 by Reginald I. Pocock, when he split up Eurypelma (now Avicularia), with the type species Eurypelma seemanni. Pocock also separated off the genus Dugesiella. Two more new genera were later distinguished from Aphonopelma: Delopelma by Alexander Petrunkevitch in 1939 and Chaunopelma by Joseph C. Chamberlin in 1940. In 1985, Robert J. Raven reviewed mygalomorph genera and considered the differences among all these genera to be insignificant. He synonymized them under the name Rhechostica, which had been published by Eugène Simon in 1892, so had priority. Since the name Aphonopelma was much better known than Rechostica, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1991 agreed to give Aphonopelma precedence over Rhechostica. In 1995, Smith erected the genus Apachepelma for the species A. paloma; in 1997, Prentice transferred it back to Aphonopelma.[2]

Phylogeny

Molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that the genus is not monophyletic. Two groups of species are apparent: one from Central America, including the type species A. seemanni from Costa Rica, and another made up of species found in the United States. The relationship between the two groups and the genus Sericopelma is shown in the cladogram below. With further research, a new genuslikely will be needed for the American group of species.[2]

 

 

Aphonopelma species from Central America

 
 

 

Sericopelma

 
 

Aphonopelma species from the US

 
 
 

Species

As of February 2016, the World Spider Catalog accepted 87 species.[1] A monograph of the genus within the United States, published in 2016, made some major revisions. Only 15 of the original 55 US species were fully accepted, 33 being reduced to synonyms and 7 to nomina dubia (doubtful names). A further 14 new US species were then described.[2] These revisions are shown in the following list.

References

  1. 1 2 "Aphonopelma Pocock, 1901", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-02-06
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Hamilton, C.A.; Hendrixson, B.E. & Bond, J.E. (2016), "Taxonomic revision of the tarantula genus Aphonopelma Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae) within the United States", ZooKeys, 560: 1–340, doi:10.3897/zookeys.560.6264, PMC 4768370, PMID 27006611
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