''Davus'', also known as the tiger rump tarantulas, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

s 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). It was formerly included in ''

Cyclosternum ''Cyclosternum'' is a genus of Theraphosidae, tarantulas that was first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871. Species it contains twelve species, found in South America, Costa Rica, and Mexico: *''Cyclosternum darienense'' Gabriel & Sherwood, 20 ...

''. They are medium to large

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

, found in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Diagnosis

They are characterized by the opisthosomal pattern which are made of several red-orange stripes. Though further identification between species is decided mainly on 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 ...

and

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 ...

morphology. As ''

Davus pentaloris ''Davus pentaloris'' is a species of New World tarantula (family Theraphosidae) native to El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. ''Davus'' was at one time considered to be a synonym of ''Cyclosternum'', and its species were placed in that genus, but ...

'' owns a high variations of size, patterning and morphology.

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: *''

Davus fasciatus ''Davus fasciatus'', commonly known as the Costa Rican tiger rump, is a species of a new-world tarantula native to Costa Rica. This is a terrestrial species with a maximum legspan of , which makes it a rather small tarantula species, yet it is o ...

'' O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1892 (

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

) –

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

*''

'' (Simon, 1888) –

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

*'' Davus ruficeps'' (Simon, 1891) – Mexico, Guatemala,

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

*'' Davus santos'' Gabriel, 2016 – Panama

In synonymy

* ''Davus drymusetes'' (Valerio, 1982) = ''

'' * ''Davus morosum'' (Banks, 1909) = '' Davus ruficeps'' * ''Davus mozinno'' Estrada-Alvarez, 2014 = ''

'' * ''Davus zebratum'' (Banks, 1909) = '' Davus ruficeps''

References

Theraphosidae Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Mexico Spiders of Central America {{Theraphosidae-stub