''Tmesiphantes mutquina'' is a species of theraphosid

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

in the subfamily

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

. It is native to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 2014 as ''Melloleitaoina mutquina''. The specific name ''matquina'' comes from the

Quechua language Quechua (, ), also called (, 'people's language') in Southern Quechua, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous language family that originated in central Peru and thereafter spread to other countries of the Andes. Derived from ...

, meaning "a place or thing to smell", and is the name of the type locality, Mutquín. When it rains there, herbs release a pleasant smell. In 2019, it was transferred to the genus ''

Tmesiphantes ''Tmesiphantes'' is a genus of Brazilian Theraphosidae, tarantulas in the subfamily Theraphosinae that was first described by Eugène Simon, Eugène Louis Simon in 1892. The genera ''Magulla'' and ''Melloleitaoina'' were brought into Synonym (ta ...

''.

Characteristics

''Tmesiphantes mutquina'' is only known from the male, which has a relatively straight

embolus An embolus (; : emboli; from the Greek ἔμβολος "wedge", "plug") is an unattached mass that travels through the circulatory system, bloodstream and is capable of creating blockages. When an embolus Vascular occlusion, occludes a blood vess ...

lacking any subapical triangular spine.

References

Theraphosidae Spiders of Argentina Spiders described in 2014 {{Theraphosidae-stub