''Trichopelma'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n and

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

tarantulas Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the Family (biology), family Theraphosidae. , 1,100 species have been identified, with 166 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Therap ...

first described 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 Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist in history, ...

in 1888.

Taxonomy

This genus was erected by

in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

'' Trichopelma nitidum''. A major review of

mygalomorph The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3,000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to t ...

spiders by Robert J. Raven in 1985 led to the genus being greatly enlarged, merging it with other genera ''Hapalopinus'', ''Leptofischelia'', ''Merothele'', ''Obaerarius'' and ''Stothis''. Raven placed this expanded genus in the family

Barychelidae Barychelidae, also known as brushed trapdoor spiders, is a spider family with about 300 species in 39 genera. Behaviour Most spiders in this family build trapdoor burrows. For example, the long '' Sipalolasma'' builds its burrow in rotted wood, ...

. In 1994, he proposed moving ''Trichopelma'' to the related family

Theraphosidae 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 ...

, but without any new evidence, the move was not generally accepted. In 2014 José P. L. Guadanucci carried out a morphological

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data ...

of some mygalomorph genera, including ''Trichopelma''. The study supported Raven's hypothesis, and the genus was moved to Theraphosidae as a member of a re-limited subfamily Ischnocolinae

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

Species

it contains 23 species: * ''

Trichopelma affine ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' (Simon, 1892) - St. Vincent * '' Trichopelma banksia'' Özdikmen & Demir, 2012 - Cuba * '' Trichopelma bimini'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Bahamas * '' Trichopelma coenobita'' (Simon, 1889) - Venezuela * ''

Trichopelma cubanum ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' (Simon, 1903) - Cuba * ''

Trichopelma fulvum ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' (Bryant, 1948) - Haiti * ''

Trichopelma gabrieli ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Dominican Republic * ''

Trichopelma goloboffi ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Cuba * ''

Trichopelma huffi ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Dominican Republic * '' Trichopelma illetabile'' Simon, 1888 - Brazil * ''

Trichopelma insulanum ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' (Petrunkevitch, 1926) - St. Thomas * ''

Trichopelma juventud ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Cuba * ''

Trichopelma laselva ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Valerio, 1986 - Costa Rica * ''

Trichopelma laurae ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Cuba * ''

Trichopelma loui ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with '' Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species '' Trichopelma nitidum ...

'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Jamaica * '' Trichopelma maculatum'' (Banks, 1906) - Bahama Is. * '' Trichopelma nitidum'' Simon, 1888 (

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

) - Hispaniola * '' Trichopelma platnicki'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Jamaica * ''

Trichopelma steini ''Trichopelma'' is a genus of South American and Caribbean Theraphosidae, tarantulas first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Taxonomy This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with ''Trichopelma illetabile'' and the type species ''Tricho ...

'' (Simon, 1889) - Venezuela * '' Trichopelma tostoi'' Mori & Bertani, 2020 - Dominican Republic * '' Trichopelma venadense'' (Valerio, 1986) - Costa Rica * '' Trichopelma zebra'' (Petrunkevitch, 1925) - Panama * '' Trichopelma grande'' Ortiz & Fonseca, 2024 - Cuba Ortiz, D., & Fonseca, E. (2024). A hairy giant among dwarves: Trichopelma grande, a distinct new species of tarantula from Cuba (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Journal of Natural History, 58(45–48), 2189–2205. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2024.2401921

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2709593 Theraphosidae Theraphosidae genera Spiders of Central America Spiders of South America Taxa named by Eugène Simon