''Hemirrhagus diablo'' is a

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 ...

in the ''

Hemirrhagus ''Hemirrhagus'' is a genus of Mexican tarantulas that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1903. It is considered a senior synonym of ''Spelopelma''. Species of the genus ''Hemirrhagus'' are 5 to 12 cm long, usually black in colour, the ...

'' genus, it is found in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, in several caves in the state of

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

. It is named after a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

it is found in, "Cueva del diablo" which translated to "Devil's cave", diablo being

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

. This tarantula was first described by Mendoza & Francke in 2018.

Description

''Hemirrhagus diablo'' can be distinguished from most other ''Hemirrhagus'' tarantulas by having the

urticating hair Urticating hairs or urticating bristles are one of the primary defense mechanisms used by numerous plants, almost all New World tarantulas, and various lepidopteran caterpillars. ''Urtica'' is Latin for "nettle" (stinging nettles are in the genu ...

s arranged in two para median patches, which are brown in color. And by the shape of the male palpal bulb with a narrow base. The tarantula is dark brown in color with either some darker or whiter patches. Spiderlings are dark brown in color with some orange coloration in the para median patches.

Habitat

This tarantula is found in "Cueva del diablo", it is named as such after a legend. The cave is about 2 km long, in some of the deeper areas it is necessary to bring equipment to breath, as there is a lack of oxygen. In this cave several

prehispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

cultural items have been found. This cave is found in the

Ajusco Ajusco is a lava dome volcano located just south of Mexico City, Mexico, in the Tlalpan borough of the city. It is the highest point in the city. Etymology Ajusco is a Náhuatl word variously translated as "source of waters" or "watered grove", ...

mountains. The

area have forest, mountain grasslands and alpine vegetation, the rocks are from the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

period with

batholith A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, such ...

and

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

rocks. The legend is as follows: Near the cave appears an old man, who ask the naive travelers who pass there to follow him to the interior. In the beginning all seems calm, but the deeper they go, the more they notice that the old man is the devil himself.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q60045157 Theraphosidae Animals described in 2018 Endemic spiders of Mexico Fauna of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Cave spiders