''Cyriopagopus schmidti'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

in the family

Theraphosidae Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,100 species have been identified, with 166 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

(tarantulas), found in China and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It is one of a number of species known as "Chinese bird spider" and "Chinese earth tiger". ''Haplopelma huwenum'' was synonymized with this species in 2008. Spiders under this name and its synonyms have been shown to produce toxins called

huwentoxin Huwentoxins (HWTX) are a group of neurotoxic peptides found in the venom of the Chinese bird spider '' Haplopelma schmidti''. The species was formerly known as ''Haplopelma huwenum'', ''Ornithoctonus huwena'' and ''Selenocosmia huwena''. While str ...

Description

''Cyriopagopus schmidti'' resembles '' C. hainanus'', but can be distinguished by its dark yellow-brown body and the shorter length of the "thorns" on the forward-facing (prolateral) sides of the

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

e. The carapace (upper surface of the

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 ''cepha ...

) is dark yellow-brown; the abdomen is similarly coloured, with black stripes running across it and a black stripe down the centre of the upper surface. The female has been described as one of the largest Asian spiders, and is said to be able to live up to 30 years. It is between 53 and 85 mm long (body plus

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the arthropod mouthparts, 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 ...

). The first leg is longest, at about 69 mm; the third is the shortest, at about 54 mm. The

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

is M-shaped. The male is smaller, between 37 and 44 mm long (body plus chelicerae). The first leg is again the longest, at about 68 mm, with the third being the shortest, at about 52 mm. Thus, although the body is significantly smaller than that of the female, the male's legs are of a similar length. The tibiae of the first pair of legs have a spur on the forward-facing sides. The

palpal bulb The two palpal bulbs – also known as palpal organs and genital bulbs – are the copulatory organs of a male spider. They are borne on the last segment of the pedipalps (the front "limbs" of a spider), giving the spider an appearance often descr ...

is pear-shaped, with a wide, curved embolus. ''C. schmidti'' makes burrows, lined with silk, and often with silk alarm lines radiating from the mouth. The spider remains in its burrow during the day, emerging only at night to catch prey, mainly large insects.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by V. von Wirth in 1991, as ''Haplopelma schmidti'', based on a single female from

. Separately, J. F. Wang, X. J. Peng and L. P. Xie described ''Selenocosmia huwena'' in 1993, based on a female from

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

, China. In 2000, Günter Schmidt first synonymized the two, a decision confirmed by Ming-Sheng Zhu and Rui Zhang in 2008. In 2015, the species was moved to ''

Cyriopagopus ''Cyriopagopus'' is a genus of southeast Asian tarantulas found from Myanmar to the Philippines. , the genus includes species formerly placed in ''Haplopelma''. It was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1887. Description The species forme ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

''Cyriopagopus schmidti'' is known from

Guangxi Province Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the ...

in south China and from neighbouring

. It is found on south-facing mountain slopes, steeply sloping at 60 to 85˚.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27505617, from2=Q1647236, from3=Q15719062 Endemic fauna of Vietnam Theraphosidae Spiders of Asia Spiders described in 1991