''Mascaraneus'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

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 African

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 ...

containing the single species ''Mascaraneus remotus''. It was first described by R. C. Gallon in 2005, and is endemic to

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

Taxonomy

The genus and species were first described by

Richard Gallon Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and ...

in 2005. The genus name "''Mascaraneus''" means "spider of the

Mascarene Islands The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their na ...

"; mixing the word "Mascarene" with the Latin word for "spider", ''araneus''. The specific name ''remotus'' is derived from the Latin word for "remote", referring to the isolated type locality ( Serpent Island). The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of ''Mascaraneus remotus'' is desiccated, missing the third right leg. It lacks any

stridulatory Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mech ...

seta In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, ...

e, and was therefore considered as ischnocoline but was not placed there, on account of the lack of any medial and proximal hairs on the tibial leg sections, and the presence of integral tarsal

scopulae Scopulae, or scopula pads, are dense tufts of hair at the end of a spider's legs. They are found mostly on hunting spiders, for example Salticidae and Sparassidae. Scopulae consist of microscopic hairs, known as setae, which are each covered in ev ...

Lack of a stridulatory organ

An interesting feature of ''Mascaraneus remotus'' is the lack of any stridulatory organ on the upper prolateral surfaces of the first two coxae of the legs. Such an organ, consisting of many robust

e and long plumose setae, is found on nearly every eumenophorine theraphosid (with the exception being '' Monocentropus'', which only has plumose setae). As a near constant rule, large terrestrial theraphosids have a stridulatory organs of some shape or form. It has been suggested by some (for example,

James Wood-Mason James Wood-Mason (December 1846 – 6 May 1893) was an English zoologist. He was the director of the Indian Museum at Calcutta, after John Anderson (zoologist), John Anderson. He collected marine animals and lepidoptera, but is best known for h ...

, in 1877Wood-Mason, J. (1877). Note on ''Mygale stridulans''. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1877: 281-282) that this is used to deter predators. The tiny islet of Serpent Island has only one type of mammal, bats, and the birds of the islet are all diurnal (active by day); therefore, they rarely come into contact with the tarantula. This may have led to the lack of the stridulatory organ.

Origins

''Mascaraneus remotus'' is thought to have come from

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, as during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

age the

Mascarene Plateau The Mascarene Plateau is a submarine plateau in the Indian Ocean, north and east of Madagascar. The plateau extends approximately , from Seychelles in the north to Réunion in the south. The plateau covers an area of over of shallow water, wi ...

was exposed, with sea level rise,

island hopping Leapfrogging was an amphibious military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea was to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to capture every island i ...

and local

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

causing its current distribution on the islet of Serpent Island. Another theory is that it came from

Eastern Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

, but this is unlikely, as then one would expect eumenophorine tarantulas distributed on the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

, from which only ischnocoline theraphosids are known. Furthermore, several species of Eumenophorinae are found on Madagascar, providing more evidence for the former theory.

Behaviour

It lives in rock crevices and is active at night, where it feeds upon other invertebrates, lizards and seabird chicks. Very little is known about the behaviour, biology and ecology of this species of tarantula.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q6782835, from2=Q737175 Fauna of the Indian Ocean Monotypic Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Africa Theraphosidae

Taxonomy

Lack of a stridulatory organ

Origins

Behaviour

See also

References