''Augacephalus'' is a genus of harpacterine

theraphosid 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 ...

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 d ...

s. It has three species, all of which are found in Africa.

Taxonomy and etymology

The type species of ''Augacephalus'' is ''A. breyeri'' which was described as '' Pterinochilus breyeri'' by Hewitt in 1919. In 2002, Gallon placed it a new genus, which he erected in the same paper, ''Augacephalus''.Gallon, R. C. (2002). Revision of the African genera ''Pterinochilus'' and ''Eucratoscelus'' (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Harpactirinae) with description of two new genera. ''Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society'' 12: 201-232 Its name comes from 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 ...

αυγή ''auga'' meaning "sun rays" and κεφᾰλή ''kephale'' meaning "head" which refers to the prominent, radial

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''ceph ...

striae present in most species.

Natural history

All known species are

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric e ...

and females lay eggs in a hammock egg-sack which yield about 95

lings.Gallon, R. C. (2010). On some southern African Harpactirinae, with notes on the eumenophorines ''Pelinobius muticus'' Karsch, 1885 and ''Monocentropella'' Strand, 1907 (Araneae, Theraphosidae). ''Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society'' 15: 29-48

Diagnosis

''Augacephalus'' is separated from other harpactirines in the following ways: Distinguished from '' Harpactirella'' by the presence of a retrolateral

chelicera The chelicerae () are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as " jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or similarly ...

l scopula composed of plumose

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. T ...

e (in males scopula not obviously composed of plumose setae). Separated from '' Harpactira'' and '' Trichognatha'' by the absence of a dense scopula on the upper prolateral cheliceral surface. Further separated from ''Harpactira'' by the absence of plumose stridulatory strikers on the prolateral

maxillary Maxillary means "related to the maxilla (upper jaw bone)". Terms containing "maxillary" include: * Maxillary artery *Maxillary nerve In neuroanatomy, the maxillary nerve (V) is one of the three branches or divisions of the trigeminal nerve, ...

surface, and by the absence of a discrete row of bristles below the retrolateral cheliceral scopula. Distinguished from ''

Idiothele ''Idiothele'' is a genus of African tarantulas that was first described by J. Hewitt in 1919. it contains two species, both found in southern Africa: '' I. mira'' and '' I. nigrofulva''. See also * List of Theraphosidae species This page list ...

'' by the possession of digitiform distal segment on posterior

spinneret A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...

s. Differs from '' Ceratogyrus'' by the lack of a foveal

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

/procurved fovea. Female ''Augacephalus'' are separated from those of '' Eucratoscelus'' by the unmodified (not incrassate)

tibiae The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

of leg IV. Male ''Augacephalus'' are separated from those of ''Eucratoscelus'' and '' Pterinochilus'' by lacking the distal proventral tibial apophysis or by the reduced surmounted megaspine. Further separated from ''Eucratoscelus'' by the absence of a distal proventral tumid protuberance on

metatarsus The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the med ...

I. The presence of a distal prodorsal spine on metatarsi III and IV further separates ''Augacephalus'' from ''Eucratoscelus''. Female ''Augacephalus'' are separated from those of ''Pterinochilus'' by the absence of long emergent setae on the chelicerae (giving them a velvety appearance), their robust palpi and legs I–II, and by the position of their posterior

sternal The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sha ...

sigilla (an impressed sclerotized spot).

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 ...

accepts the following species: *'' Augacephalus breyeri'' Hewitt, 1919 South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini (

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 specimen( ...

) *'' Augacephalus ezendami'' Gallon, 2001 Mozambique *'' Augacephalus junodi'' Simon, 1904 East, South Africa

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2608814 Theraphosidae Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Africa