Melloleitaoina

Melloleitaoina is a genus of South American tarantulas that was first described by B. S. Gerschman de P. & R. D. Schiapelli in 1960.[2]

Melloleitaoina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Mygalomorphae
Family: Theraphosidae
Genus: Melloleitaoina
Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1960[1]
Type species
M. crassifemur
Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1960
Species

4, see text

Taxonomy

The genus was erected in 1960 by Gerschman and Schiapelli for a single species, M. crassifemur.[2] It was considered a junior synonym of Dryptopelma by Schmidt in 1993, but was restored by Pérez-Miles in 1996.[3] It was expanded to include three other species in 2014 by Pérez-Miles and Perafàn.[1]

Characteristic features

Melloleitaoina has few labial cuspules (6-14), the male has an embolus with two keels (the prolateral inferior and the prolateral superior) and the tibial apophysis has unequal branches. The female has granulated spermathecae with constriction near the apex and spiniform setae near the edge of the two last coxae.[4]

Species

As of March 2020 it contains four species, found in Argentina:[1]

References
  1. "Gen. Melloleitaoina Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1960". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2020. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  2. Gerschman de P., B. S.; Schiapelli, R. D. (1960). "Un nuevo género con una nueva especie de Ischnocolinae (Araneae-Theraphosidae)". Physis, Revista de la Sociedad Argentina de Ciencias Naturales. 21: 200–206.
  3. Pérez-Miles, F.; et al. (1996). "Systematic revision and cladistic analysis of Theraphosinae (Araneae: Theraphosidae)". Mygalomorph. 1: 33–68.
  4. Perafán, C. & Pérez-Miles, F. (2014). "Three new species of Melloleitaoina Gerschman and Schiapelli, 1960 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae) from northern Argentina". ZooKeys. 404: 117–129. doi:10.3897/zookeys.404.6243. PMC 4023263. PMID 24843274.
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