Macrothele

''Macrothele'' is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Macrothelidae, and was first described by A. Ausserer in 1871. It is the only genus in the family Macrothelidae, and most species occur in Asia, from India to Japan, and Java, with five found in Africa, and two in Europe. The name is derived from Ancient Greek μακρός ("makro-"), meaning "big", and θηλή ("thele"), referring to the spinnerets.

Description

Spiders of this genus are fairly large, with females of some Chinese species ranging from in body length. Males are smaller, sometimes only half that length. Macrothelids can be distinguished from other mygalomorph spiders by their larger posterior sigillae on the sternum, and the arrangement of the rows of teeth on the margin of the chelicerae: larger front-facing margin and smaller rear-facing.

These spiders build tube-webs or funnel-webs under rocks or logs, or in crevices in the ground.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Macrothele'' was erected by Anton Ausserer in 1871, with the type species being ''Macrothele calpeiana'', formerly ''Mygale calpeiana''. Ausserer placed the genus in the then very broadly defined family Theraphosidae. It was later placed in the Dipluridae and the Hexathelidae before being transferred to the Macrothelidae in 2018. A molecular phylogenetic study in 2018 suggested that ''Macrothele'' was a distinct, early diverging lineage within the Mygalomorphae. Accordingly, Simon's subfamily Macrothelinae was elevated to the family Macrothelidae. There is some doubt if the western and eastern species should be grouped in the same genus.

The following cladogram shows the possible relationship of ''Macrothele'' to related taxa:

Species

, it contains 42 species and one subspecies from Africa, Asia and Europe:
*''Macrothele abrupta'' Benoit, 1965 – Congo
*''Macrothele alyrata'' (Mirza, Sanap & Kunte, 2017) – India
*'' Macrothele amamiensis'' Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
*'' Macrothele arcuata'' Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 – China
*'' Macrothele bannaensis'' Xu & Yin, 2001 – China, Laos
*''Macrothele calpeiana'' (Walckenaer, 1805) ( type) – Southern Europe, North Africa
*'' Macrothele camerunensis'' Simon, 1903 – Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
*'' Macrothele cangshanensis'' Z. B. Yang, Zhao, Zhang & Z. Z. Yang, 2018 – China
*'' Macrothele cretica'' Kulczyński, 1903 – Greece (Crete)
*'' Macrothele decemnotata'' Simon, 1909 – Vietnam
*'' Macrothele drolshageni'' Özkütük, Elverici, Yağmur & Kunt, 2019 – Turkey
*'' Macrothele emei'' Lin & Li, 2021 – China
*'' Macrothele gigas'' Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
*'' Macrothele guizhouensis'' Hu & Li, 1986 – China
*'' Macrothele hanfeii'' Lin & Li, 2021 – China (Hainan)
*'' Macrothele holsti'' Pocock, 1901 – Taiwan
*'' Macrothele hungae'' Lin & Li, 2021 – Taiwan
*'' Macrothele incisa'' Benoit, 1965 – Congo
*'' Macrothele jingzhao'' Chen, Jiang & Yang, 2020 – China
*'' Macrothele jinlin'' Z. B. Yang, Zhao, Zhang & Z. Z. Yang, 2018 – China
*'' Macrothele limenghuai'' Lin & Li, 2021 – China
*'' Macrothele maculata'' ( Thorell, 1890) – Myanmar, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java)
**'' M. m. annamensis'' Hogg, 1922 – Vietnam
*'' Macrothele menglunensis'' Li & Zha, 2013 – China
*'' Macrothele mingsheng'' Wu & Z. Z. Yang, 2022 – China
*''Macrothele monocirculata'' Xu & Yin, 2000 – China
*'' Macrothele multispine'' Wang, Li & Yang, 2019 – China
*'' Macrothele nanning'' Lin & Li, 2021 – China
*'' Macrothele proserpina'' Simon, 1909 – Vietnam
*''Macrothele raveni'' Zhu, Li & Song, 2000 – China
*'' Macrothele sanheensis'' Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 – China
*'' Macrothele segmentata'' Simon, 1892 – Malaysia
*'' Macrothele simplicata'' (Saito, 1933) – Taiwan
*'' Macrothele taiwanensis'' Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Taiwan
*'' Macrothele triangularis'' Benoit, 1965 – Congo
*'' Macrothele undata'' Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 – China
*'' Macrothele vidua'' Simon, 1906 – India
*'' Macrothele washanensis'' Wu & Z. Z. Yang, 2022 – China
*'' Macrothele wuliangensis'' Wu & Z. Z. Yang, 2022 – China
*'' Macrothele yaginumai'' Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
*'' Macrothele yani'' Xu, Yin & Griswold, 2002 – China
*''Macrothele yongshengensis'' Z. B. Yang, Zhao & Z. Z. Yang, 2019 – China
*'' Macrothele yunlingensis'' Z. B. Yang, Zhao & Z. Z. Yang, 2019 – China

See also

*Raventoxin

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q98876, from2=Q53536229

Macrothelidae
Mygalomorphae genera
Spiders of Asia
Spiders of Africa