''Annandaliella travancorica'' is a species of

tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

spider found in the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was the first of three members of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Annandaliella'' to be described, therefore the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

Characteristics

''Annandaliella travancorica'' lacks a tibial comb or any

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e on the distal end of the tibia of the first leg. The male lacks any

stridulating Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mech ...

hairs on the inside of the chelicerae. The female, however, has a stridulatory organ. The male's coxae,

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

, metatarsi, tarsi and

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) 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 tor ...

have a matt of white hairs. The legs are reddish-brown and the cephalothorax has different shades of brown and the abdomen has yellow-brown hairs and long red-brown and golden-brown hairs. It is about 20mm long.Gravely, F. H. (1935a). Notes on Indian mygalomorph spiders. II. Records of the Indian Museum, Calcutta 37: p. 78. Retrieved February 7, 2016.

References

Theraphosidae Spiders of the Indian subcontinent Endemic fauna of India Spiders described in 1909 Taxa named by Arthur Stanley Hirst {{Theraphosidae-stub