Pamphobeteus is a genus of tarantulas that was first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1901.[2] It includes some of the largest spiders in the world. They are found in South America, including the countries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia and Panama.

Pamphobeteus
Pamphobeteus antinous
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Mygalomorphae
Family: Theraphosidae
Genus: Pamphobeteus
Pocock, 1901[1]
Type species
P. nigricolor
(Ausserer, 1875)
Species

18, see text

Description

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The males of the Pamphobeteus genus have a spoon shaped or thin embolus in the palpal bulb with elongate retrolateral superior and apical keels. They also possess a tibial apophysis with two branches on the first pair of legs, the metatarsus of which closes between the two branches. Females can be distinguished from most genera (except Xenesthis and Longilyra) by the large fused base of the spermathecae and short receptacles, and differs from those two genera by the presence of only ventral metatarsal scopulae on leg IV, and absence of lyriform stridulatory setae respectively.[3]

Species

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As of February 2023 it contains eighteen species, endemic to northwestern South America and Panama:[1]

Formerly included:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Gloor, Daniel; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Blick, Theo; Kropf, Christian (2020). "Gen. Pamphobeteus Pocock, 1901". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  2. ^ Pocock, R. I. (1901). "Some new and old genera of S.-American Avicularidae". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 8 (7): 540–555. doi:10.1080/03745480109443359.
  3. ^ Sherwood, Danniella; Gabriel, Ray; Brescovit, Antonio D.; Lucas, Sylvia M. (14 November 2023). "On the species of Pamphobeteus Pocock, 1901 deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, with redescriptions of type material, the first record of P. grandis Bertani, Fukushima & Silva, 2008 from Peru, and the description of four new species". Arachnology). 19 (3). doi:10.13156/arac.2022.19.3.650. ISSN 2050-9928.