''Tmesiphantes mutquina'' is a species of 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 ...

in the subfamily

Theraphosinae The Theraphosinae are a large subfamily of Mygalomorphae spiders in the family Theraphosidae found in the Neotropical realm. Genera The subfamily Theraphosinae includes these genera: * '' Acanthoscurria'' * '' Aenigmarachne'' * ''Aphonopelma' ...

. It is native to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 2014 as ''Melloleitaoina mutquina''. The specific name ''matquina'' comes from the

Quechua language Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common anc ...

, meaning "a place or thing to smell", and is the name of the type locality, Mutquín. When it rains there, herbs release a pleasant smell. In 2019, it was transferred to the genus ''

Tmesiphantes ''Tmesiphantes'' is a genus of Brazilian tarantulas in the subfamily Theraphosinae that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1892. The genera ''Magulla'' and ''Melloleitaoina'' were brought into synonymy in 2019. Species it contains ...

''.

Characteristics

''Tmesiphantes mutquina'' is only known from the male, which has a relatively straight

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 ...

lacking any subapical triangular spine.

References

Theraphosidae Spiders of Argentina Spiders described in 2014 {{Theraphosidae-stub