tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...
, which is native to the
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
Female ''Selenogyrus africanus'' have procurved foveae, and many spines on the labium. 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 12mm long and 9.4mm wide. It has some long, thick greyish-yellow hairs. The
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
''Selenogyrus africanus'' was originally described as ''Hapalopus africanus'' by
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 taxonomist in history, describing over 4, ...
in 1889, but
Reginald Innes Pocock
Reginald Innes Pocock F.R.S. (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist.
Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward ...
, in 1897, recognized that it had all the characteristics of ''
Selenogyrus
''Selenogyrus'' is a genus of spider, or more specifically, selenogyrine theraphosid. The type species is '' Selenogyrus caeruleus''.Andrew Smith claimed that ''Selenogyrus africanus'' "is in urgent need of redescription".Smith, A. M. (1990). Baboon spiders: Tarantulas of Africa and the Middle East. Fitzgerald Publishing, London, pp. 138.