Macrothele Explained

Macrothele is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Macrothelidae, and was first described by A. Ausserer in 1871.^[1] Most of the species in the genus occur in Asia, from India to Japan, and Java, with five found in Africa, and two in Europe. The name is derived from Ancient Greek μακρός ("makro-"), meaning "big", and θηλή ("thele"), referring to the spinnerets.

Description

Spiders of this genus are fairly large, with females of some Chinese species ranging from 1cmto3cmcm (00inchesto01inchescm) in body length. Males are smaller, sometimes only half that length. Macrothelids can be distinguished from other mygalomorph spiders by their larger posterior sigillae on the sternum, and the arrangement of the rows of teeth on the margin of the chelicerae: larger front-facing margin and smaller rear-facing.

These spiders build tube-webs or funnel-webs under rocks or logs, or in crevices in the ground.^[2]

Taxonomy

The genus Macrothele was erected by Anton Ausserer in 1871, with the type species being Macrothele calpeiana, formerly Mygale calpeiana. Ausserer placed the genus in the then very broadly defined family Theraphosidae. It was later placed in the Dipluridae and the Hexathelidae before being transferred to the Macrothelidae in 2018. A molecular phylogenetic study in 2018 suggested that Macrothele was a distinct, early diverging lineage within the Mygalomorphae. Accordingly, Simon's subfamily Macrothelinae was elevated to the family Macrothelidae. There is some doubt if the western and eastern species should be grouped in the same genus.^[3]

The following cladogram shows the possible relationship of Macrothele to related taxa:^[4]

Species

, it contains 42 species and one subspecies from Africa, Asia and Europe:^[5]

• Macrothele abrupta Benoit, 1965 – Congo
• Macrothele alyrata (Mirza, Sanap & Kunte, 2017) – India
• Macrothele amamiensis Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
• Macrothele arcuata Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 – China
• Macrothele bannaensis Xu & Yin, 2001 – China, Laos
• Macrothele calpeiana (Walckenaer, 1805) (type) – Southern Europe, North Africa
• Macrothele camerunensis Simon, 1903 – Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
• Macrothele cangshanensis Z. B. Yang, Zhao, Zhang & Z. Z. Yang, 2018 – China
• Macrothele cretica Kulczyński, 1903 – Greece (Crete)
• Macrothele decemnotata Simon, 1909 – Vietnam
• Macrothele drolshageni Özkütük, Elverici, Yağmur & Kunt, 2019 – Turkey
• Macrothele emei Lin & Li, 2021 – China
• Macrothele gigas Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
• Macrothele guizhouensis Hu & Li, 1986 – China
• Macrothele hanfeii Lin & Li, 2021 – China (Hainan)
• Macrothele holsti Pocock, 1901 – Taiwan
• Macrothele hungae Lin & Li, 2021 – Taiwan
• Macrothele incisa Benoit, 1965 – Congo
• Macrothele jingzhao Chen, Jiang & Yang, 2020 – China
• Macrothele jinlin Z. B. Yang, Zhao, Zhang & Z. Z. Yang, 2018 – China
• Macrothele limenghuai Lin & Li, 2021 – China
• Macrothele maculata (Thorell, 1890) – Myanmar, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java)
  • M. m. annamensis Hogg, 1922 – Vietnam
• Macrothele menglunensis Li & Zha, 2013 – China
• Macrothele mingsheng Wu & Z. Z. Yang, 2022 – China
• Macrothele monocirculata Xu & Yin, 2000 – China
• Macrothele multispine Wang, Li & Yang, 2019 – China
• Macrothele nanning Lin & Li, 2021 – China
• Macrothele proserpina Simon, 1909 – Vietnam
• Macrothele raveni Zhu, Li & Song, 2000 – China
• Macrothele sanheensis Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 – China
• Macrothele segmentata Simon, 1892 – Malaysia
• Macrothele simplicata (Saito, 1933) – Taiwan
• Macrothele taiwanensis Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Taiwan
• Macrothele triangularis Benoit, 1965 – Congo
• Macrothele undata Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 – China
• Macrothele vidua Simon, 1906 – India
• Macrothele washanensis Wu & Z. Z. Yang, 2022 – China
• Macrothele wuliangensis Wu & Z. Z. Yang, 2022 – China
• Macrothele yaginumai Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
• Macrothele yani Xu, Yin & Griswold, 2002 – China
• Macrothele yongshengensis Z. B. Yang, Zhao & Z. Z. Yang, 2019 – China
• Macrothele yunlingensis Z. B. Yang, Zhao & Z. Z. Yang, 2019 – China

See also

• Raventoxin

Notes and References

1. Ausserer. A.. 1871. Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Arachniden-Familie der Territelariae Thorell (Mygalidae Autor).. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien. 117–224. 21. Anton_Ausserer.
2. Zhu. M.S.. Song. D.X.. 2000. Review of the Chinese funnel-web spiders of the genus Macrothele, with descriptions of two new species (Araneae:Hexathelidae). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 48. 1. 59–64. https://web.archive.org/web/20120205021638/http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/48/48rbz059-064.pdf. 2018-05-20. 2012-02-05. (with key to Chinese species). amp.
3. Book: Murphy. Frances. Murphy. John. 2000. An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian Nature Society. amp.
4. Hedin. M.. Derkarabetian. S.. Ramírez. M.J.. Vink. C.. Bond. J.E.. 2018. Phylogenomic reclassification of the world's most venomous spiders (Mygalomorphae, Atracinae), with implications for venom evolution . Scientific Reports. 8. 1636. 1636. 10.1038/s41598-018-19946-2. amp. 5785998. 29374214. 2018NatSR...8.1636H.
5. 2022 . Gen. Macrothele Ausserer, 1871 . Natural History Museum Bern . 10.24436/2 . 2 December 2022 . World Spider Catalog Version 23.5.