''Sickius'' is a genus of

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 ...

s. It has a single species, ''Sickius longibulbi''. It is endemic to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Taxonomy

The species ''S. longibulbi'' was described in 1948 by Benedict A. M. Soares and H.F. de A. Camargo, however

Robert Raven Robert John Raven is an Australian arachnologist, being the Head of Terrestrial Biodiversity and the Senior Curator (Arachnida) at the Queensland Museum. Dr Raven has described many species of spider in Australia and elsewhere, and is spider bit ...

put it in the genus ''

Hapalotremus ''Hapalotremus'' is a genus of South American tarantulas in the Theraphosinae subfamily that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1903. They have red or white Type III urticating (relatively long, thin) hairs, up to , with a fine point ...

'', on account of a similar double branched tibial spur, though the holotype was missing at the time. It was restored in 2002 by Rogério Bertani, who claimed it lacked urticating hair and any keels on the embolus therefore it was impossible for the genus to be a member of the

Theraphosinae The Theraphosinae are a large subfamily of Mygalomorphae spiders in the family Theraphosidae found in the Neotropical realm. Genera The subfamily Theraphosinae includes these genera: * '' Acanthoscurria'' * '' Aenigmarachne'' * ''Aphonopelma' ...

. In 2015 Josè Guadanucci and

Dirk Weinmann A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

moved this genus to the Schismatothelinae subfamily.

Characteristic features

The main characteristic is the lack of

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 in the female spider. This is found in very few spiders, none of which are mygalomorphid. The male is characterized by the shape of the embolus; which is long and has a small hook at the end.

References

Theraphosidae Monotypic Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Brazil {{Theraphosidae-stub

Taxonomy

Characteristic features

See also

References