''Augacephalus breyeri'' is a species of harpactirine theraphosid

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

, found in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

Description

''Augacephalus breyeri'' females are 40-55mm in total length. The

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

is 15-22mm long and 12-18mm wide, and sometimes has a "step" separating the cephalic region from the

fovea Fovea () (Latin for "pit"; plural foveae ) is a term in anatomy. It refers to a pit or depression in a structure. Human anatomy *Fovea centralis of the retina * Fovea buccalis or Dimple * Fovea of the femoral head * Trochlear fovea of the fr ...

. The cephalothorax has a radial pattern of orange striae set on a background of black

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, and the cephalic region has a black "mask". The fovea is shallow. There are long emergent

e on the

sternum The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sh ...

and coxae. The

spermatheca The spermatheca (pronounced plural: spermathecae ), also called receptaculum seminis (plural: receptacula seminis), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, oligochaeta worms and certain other ...

e are flattened and triangular. The abdomen (

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma (cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to a ...

) is 18.8–27.2mm long and 12.9–19.4mm wide. Its dorsal surface is orange/beige with a dark pattern of spots, bars and reticulations. The legs and

palpi Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of Chelicerata, chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ...

are orange or beige. Male ''Augacephalus breyeri'' have a megaspine surmounting a distal proventral tibial apophysis. They have relatively robust

embolus An embolus (; plural emboli; from the Greek ἔμβολος "wedge", "plug") is an unattached mass that travels through the bloodstream and is capable of creating blockages. When an embolus occludes a blood vessel, it is called an embolism or emb ...

. The total length of the male is 18mm. The cephalothorax is 8.4mm long and 6.7mm wide. Cephalothorax colouration same as female. Abdomen length 7.9mm and width 4.1mm. Abdomen, legs and palpi are light brown.Gallon, R. C. (2002). Revision of the African genera ''Pterinochilus'' and ''Eucratoscelus'' (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Harpactirinae) with description of two new genera. ''Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society'' 12: 201-232.

Natural history

''A. breyeri'' is fossorial and inhabits

thornveld Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswa ...

grassland. It lives in burrows about 20 cm deep.

Taxonomy

''Augacephalus breyeri'' was described by John Hewitt, as ''

Pterinochilus ''Pterinochilus'' is a genus of baboon spiders that was first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1897. They are found all throughout Africa Species it contains ten species, all found in Africa: *'' Pterinochilus alluaudi'' Berland, 1914 � ...

breyeri'', in 1919.

Richard Gallon Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

transferred the species to ''Augacephalus'' in 2002.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2471655 Theraphosidae Spiders of Africa Spiders described in 1919