''Sickius'' is a genus of

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 m ...

s. It has a single species, ''Sickius longibulbi''. It is endemic to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Taxonomy

The species ''S. longibulbi'' was described in 1948 by Benedict A. M. Soares and H.F. de A. Camargo, however

Robert Raven Robert John Raven is an Australian arachnologist, being the Head of Terrestrial Biodiversity and the Senior Curator (Arachnida) at the Queensland Museum. Dr Raven has described many species of spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breath ...

put it in the genus ''

Hapalotremus ''Hapalotremus'' is a genus of South American Theraphosidae, tarantulas in the Theraphosinae subfamily that was first described by Eugène Simon, Eugène Louis Simon in 1903. They have red or white Type III urticating hair, urticating (relatively ...

'', on account of a similar double branched tibial spur, though the holotype was missing at the time. It was restored in 2002 by

Rogério Bertani Rogério Bertani is a Brazilian arachnologist, active at the Butantan Institute. He is credited as one of the foremost specialists in Theraphosidae Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , ...

, who claimed it lacked

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 ...

and any keels on the

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 ...

therefore it was impossible for the genus to be a member of the

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'' * ''Aphonopelm ...

. In 2015 Josè Guadanucci and Dirk Weinmann moved this genus to the Schismatothelinae subfamily.

Characteristic features

The main characteristic is the lack of

spermatheca The spermatheca (pronounced plural: spermathecae ), also called receptaculum seminis (plural: receptacula seminis), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, oligochaeta worms and certain other in ...

e in the female spider. This is found in very few spiders, none of which are mygalomorphid. The male is characterized by the shape of the embolus; which is long and has a small hook at the end.

References

Theraphosidae Monotypic Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Brazil {{Theraphosidae-stub

Taxonomy

Characteristic features

See also

References