''Avicularia rufa'' is a species of spider in the family Theraphosidae. Specimens from the Brazilian states of
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP.
Neighboring ...
and
Rondônia
Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...
have regularly been misidentified as ''
Avicularia juruensis
''Avicularia juruensis'' is a species of spider in the family Theraphosidae, found in South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil). ''Avicularia urticans'' was brought into synonymy in 2017. It has been given the English name Amazonian pink ...
''. One difference is the vivid yellow rings on the legs of ''A. rufa'' compared to the paler rings of ''A. juruensis''.
Description
Mature individuals have brown carapaces with short golden hairs (setae) with a slight purple sheen. Females have abdomens with long greyish brown hairs on the front of the upper (dorsal) surface and the sides; males have these longer hairs evenly distributed. Both sexes have legs and palps with short brown hairs with a pink sheen and long brown hairs with darker bases and a whitish apex. The femora, tibiae and metatarsi of the legs have vivid yellow rings on the ends furthest from the body.
Taxonomy
''Avicularia rufa'' was first described in 1945 by Schiapelli and Gerschman. Specimens from the Brazilian states of
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP.
Neighboring ...
and
Rondônia
Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...
have been consistently misidentified as ''
Avicularia juruensis
''Avicularia juruensis'' is a species of spider in the family Theraphosidae, found in South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil). ''Avicularia urticans'' was brought into synonymy in 2017. It has been given the English name Amazonian pink ...
''. This area is south of the range in which ''A. jurensis'' is considered to occur. Apart from differences in the male and female genitalia, ''A. rufa'' has bright yellow leg rings, hairs (setae) with a whitish apex on the legs, and leg I shorter than leg IV, whereas ''A. juruensis'' has paler yellow leg rings, leg hairs more uniformly coloured, and legs I and IV more-or-less equal in length.
Venom
The neurotoxic venom of ''Avicularia rufa'' (misidentified as ''A. juruensis'') has been analysed for potential as an antimicrobial. 11 antimicrobial peptides were found, one of which (named juruin on the assumption that the species was ''A. juruensis'') showed strong activity against fungi. The active components of the venom closely resembled those of other theraphosid spiders, such as ''
Haplopelma schmidti
''Cyriopagopus schmidti'' is a species of spider in the family Theraphosidae (tarantulas), found in China and Vietnam. It is one of a number of species known as "Chinese bird spider" and "Chinese earth tiger". ''Haplopelma huwenum'' was synonymi ...