Neoheterophrictus Explained

Neoheterophrictus is a genus of tarantula in the family Theraphosidae. It comprises 8 species, all found in India.^[1]

Characteristics

Neoheterophrictus is similar to Heterophrictus and Plesiophrictus, however the females differ by having a different spermathecae structure, which have two receptacles with many lobes/termini at the end. Males are distinguished from Plesiophrictus by the absence of a tegular keel on the male palpal bulb. It occurs in the Western Ghats, India.^[2]

Etymology

The name is a combination of two words neo and heterophrictus, neo in Latin meaning "new" and Heterophrictus being a genus name within the family Theraphosidae.^{[2] [1]}

Species

, the World Spider Catalog recognized 8 species. All are restricted to India.

• Neoheterophrictus amboli Mirza & Sanap, 2014 - India
• Neoheterophrictus bhori (Gravely, 1915) - India
• Neoheterophrictus chimminiensis Sunil Jose, 2020 - India
• Neoheterophrictus crurofulvus Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012 (type) - India
• Neoheterophrictus madraspatanus (Gravely, 1935) - India
• Neoheterophrictus sahyadri Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012 - India
• Neoheterophrictus smithi Mirza, Bhosale & Sanap, 2014 - India
• Neoheterophrictus uttarakannada Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012 - India

Notes and References

1. Web site: Neoheterophrictus . Tarantupedia .
2. Siliwal, M. . N. Gupta . R. Raven . 2012. A new genus of the family Theraphosidae (Araneae: Mygalomorphae) with description of three new species from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 4. 14. 3233–3254. 10.11609/jott.o3065.3233-54. free.