''Selenogyrus austini'' is a

theraphosid 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 m ...

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

. As of February 2016, it is a member of the

selenogyrinae The Selenogyrinae are a subfamily of tarantulas found in Africa and Asia."Family: Therap ...

. It is native to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

.''Selenogyrus austini'' Smith, 1990
''World Spider Catalog''. Natural History Museum of Bern. Retrieved February 11, 2016.

Etymology

The specific name ''"austini"'' is in honour of the collector of the type specimens, Mr. E. E. Austin.

Characteristics

''S. austini'' has a characteristic crescent shaped layout of the granules on the Arthropod mouthpart#Labium, labium, and also has unique layout of the labio-

sternal The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sh ...

"mounds": the anterior pair being larger than in other species. It also has relatively stout

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 ...

clavate ("club-shaped" )

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e on the chelicerae. The

spermatheca The spermatheca (pronounced plural: spermathecae ), also called receptaculum seminis (plural: receptacula seminis), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, oligochaeta worms and certain other ...

e are quite narrow at their base, and the clypeus is small but not absent. It is 41mm in length. It is uniformly brown.Smith, A. M. (1990). Baboon spiders: Tarantulas of Africa and the Middle East. Fitzgerald Publishing, London, pp. 139.

References

Theraphosidae Spiders of Africa Spiders described in 1990 {{Theraphosidae-stub