''Neoheterophrictus bhori'' is a species of

tarantula 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 ...

. It is native to Parambiculam, Western Ghats, Cochin province,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, in present-day

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

state.

Etymology

The species name comes from the name of Mr. J. Bhore, the Dewan of Cochin, who aided Frederic Henry Gravely in his scientific research.

Characteristics

This species is currently only known from the female. It is found in

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

forest, which is unusual as few

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s are found in such an environment. It differs from other species mainly by the spines on its legs; the first leg has a small inner apical spine on the

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

, and the second has the same spine only at an earlier stage and is accompanied by a mid-apical spine and an outer apical spine. It also lacks white

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 on the extremities of the legs. It is brown, and slightly darker brown on the abdomen. The multi-lobular

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 ...

e are thinner than in ''

Neoheterophrictus sahyadri ''Neoheterophrictus'' is a genus of tarantula in the family Theraphosidae. It comprises 8 species, all found in India. Characteristics ''Neoheterophrictus'' is similar to '' Heterophrictus'' and '' Plesiophrictus'', however the females differ ...

'' and wider than in '' Neoheterophrictus uttarakannada'' or '' Neoheterophrictus crurofulvus''.

References

Spiders of the Indian subcontinent Theraphosidae Spiders described in 1915 Fauna of Kerala {{Theraphosidae-stub