''Hexathele'' 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 ...

of tunnelweb spiders

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

that was first described by

Anton Ausserer Anton Ausserer (5 July 184320 July 1889)Maurer, Ferdinand: ''Nachruf an Dr. Anton Ausserer.'' Programm des kk. acad. Gymnasiums in Grätz. Graz 1890 was an Austrian natural history, naturalist specialising in spiders.Bonnet, Pierre: Bibliographi ...

in 1871, though most others have been described by

Raymond Robert Forster Raymond Robert Forster (19 June 1922 – 1 July 2000) was a New Zealand arachnologist and museum director. He was a Fellow of The Entomological Society of New Zealand. Biography Forster was born in Hastings, New Zealand in 1922, and was educa ...

. Originally placed with the curtain web spiders, it was moved to the

Hexathelidae Hexathelidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders. It is one of a number of families and genera of spiders known as tunnelweb or funnel-web spiders. In 2018, the family was substantially reduced in size by genera being moved to three separate fam ...

in 1980.

Description

Most species of ''Hexathele'' are relatively large spiders. Females of ''

Hexathele waita ''Hexathele waita'' is a species of mygalomorph spider endemic to New Zealand. Taxonomy This species was described in 1968 by Ray Forster from a single female specimen collected in Wellington. The holotype is stored at Te Papa Museum under regi ...

'', one of the largest species, may have a carapace long, and an abdomen long, with the longest leg (the fourth) being long in total. ''Hexathele'' species are generally brown to black in colour. Many species have a

chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

pattern on the upper surface of the abdomen, with patterns often being unique to the species. The carapace 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 ...

has a more or less straight depression (

fovea Fovea () (Latin for "pit"; plural foveae ) is a term in anatomy. It refers to a pit or depression in a structure. Human anatomy *Fovea centralis of the retina * Fovea buccalis or dimple * Fovea of the femoral head * Trochlear fovea of the fr ...

) in the centre. The eyes are arranged in a compact group. The male

palp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicera ...

lacks tibial apophyses (projections), but the male's first pair of legs have double spines on the tibia. There are six

spinnerets 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 ar ...

, with the posterior pair being three-segmented and relatively long.

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by Anton Ausserer in 1871, for the species ''

Hexathele hochstetteri ''Hexathele hochstetteri'', commonly known as the banded tunnelweb spider, is a spider in the family Hexathelidae, found only in New Zealand. It is common on the North Island, and uncommon on the South Island. Description The banded tunnelweb ...

''.

Mygalomorph The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3,000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to t ...

spiders were initially very broadly categorized; in 1892,

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist in history, ...

placed ''Hexathele'' in the group Hexatheleae, subfamily Diplurinae, family Aviculariidae. Later the subfamily was raised to the family

Dipluridae The family Dipluridae, known as curtain-web spiders (or confusingly as funnel-web tarantulas, a name shared with other distantly related families) are a group of spiders in the infraorder Mygalomorphae, that have two pairs of booklungs, and chel ...

with Hexathelinae as a subfamily – the classification used by Raymond R. Forster when he described many new species. The subfamily was split off as a full family,

, by Robert J. Raven in 1980.

Species

it contains twenty species, all found in

: *''

Hexathele cantuaria ''Hexathele cantuaria'' is a species of mygalomorph spider endemic to New Zealand. Taxonomy This species was described in 1968 by Ray Forster from female specimens collected in Canterbury. The holotype is stored in Canterbury Museum. Descript ...

'' Forster, 1968 – New Zealand *'' Hexathele cavernicola'' Forster, 1968 – New Zealand *'' Hexathele exemplar'' Parrott, 1960 – New Zealand *''

'' Ausserer, 1871 (

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

) – New Zealand *''

Hexathele huka ''Hexathele huka'' is a species of Mygalomorph spider endemic to New Zealand. Taxonomy This species was described in 1968 by Ray Forster from female specimens collected in Wairarapa. The holotype is stored in Otago Museum. Description The fema ...