''Phoneyusa'' is a genus of spiders belonging to the family

Theraphosidae 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 m ...

(tarantulas).

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by

Ferdinand Karsch Ferdinand Anton Franz Karsch or Karsch-Haack (2 September 1853, in Münster – 20 December 1936, in Berlin) was a German arachnologist, entomologist and anthropologist. The son of a doctor, Karsch was educated at the Friedrich Wilhelm Univers ...

in 1884, based on a spider from central Africa he regarded as in some ways similar to the South American genera ''

Avicularia ''Avicularia'' is a genus of the family Theraphosidae containing various species of arboreal tarantulas. The genus is native to Panama, the Caribbean and tropical South America. Each species in the genus has very distinguishable pink foot pads. ...

'' and ''Eurypelma'' (now included in ''Avicularia''), but nevertheless distinct. Karsch explained the name as meaning "murderess". (''Phoneyusa'' is one transcription of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, derived from the verb , 'murder'.)

Distribution

The species of this genus are found in sub-Saharan Africa.

Species

, the

World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ...

accepted the following species: *'' Phoneyusa antilope'' (Simon, 1889) – Congo *'' Phoneyusa belandana'' Karsch, 1884 (

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

) – Central African Rep. *'' Phoneyusa bidentata'' Pocock, 1899 – West, Central Africa *'' Phoneyusa bouvieri'' Berland, 1917 – Madagascar *'' Phoneyusa buettneri'' Karsch, 1886 – Gabon *'' Phoneyusa chevalieri'' Simon, 1906 – West Africa *'' Phoneyusa cultridens'' Berland, 1917 – Congo *'' Phoneyusa gabonica'' (Simon, 1889) – Gabon *'' Phoneyusa giltayi'' Laurent, 1946 – Congo *'' Phoneyusa gracilipes'' (Simon, 1889) – Congo *'' Phoneyusa lesserti'' Dresco, 1973 – Central African Rep. *'' Phoneyusa manicata'' Simon, 1907 – Príncipe *'' Phoneyusa minima'' (Strand, 1907) – Cameroon *'' Phoneyusa principium'' Simon, 1907 – Príncipe *'' Phoneyusa rutilata'' (Simon, 1907) – Guinea-Bissau *'' Phoneyusa westi'' Smith, 1990 – Angola

References

Theraphosidae Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Africa Taxa named by Ferdinand Karsch {{Theraphosidae-stub