Ornithoctoninae sp. Hatihati and Phormingochilus sp. Rufus have just been described

[Terrovax]

Two arboreal ornithoctonines from Indonesia have just been described. These two species were known in the pet trade for years, but are now given proper scientific names by taxonomists.

Cyriopagopus/Omothymus sp. Hatihati is now officially known as Phormingochilus hatihati. The authors have chosen to make the pet trade name "hatihati" as the species epithet which means "caution" in Indonesian languages. This new species can be found on Sulawesi.

The species known as Phormingochilus sp. Rufus is now officially known as Aspinochilus rufus. This is a completely new, monotypic genus described in the paper. The genus name roughly translates as "Phormingochilus without spines", referring to the lack of tibial spines on males and the close affinity A. rufus has with species of the genus Phormingochilus. Like with Phormingochilus hatihati, the authors have chosen to keep the pet trade name "rufus" as the species epithet to refer to its reddish colouration. The species can be found on the island of Java. Unfortunately, it is said to be threatened by ongoing habitat loss.

Paper can be read here: Description of a new genus and two new species of Ornithoctoninae from Southeast Asia (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

 

[zsiciarz]

Always good to see common hobby spiders finally described.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

This is awesome news, I've been waiting a long time for Phormingochilus sp Rufus to be officially described.

 

[Brewser]

Phormingochilus hati hati has a nice ring to it. Rock'n in the New Year with a New Name,

and a New Genus added to My Family of Tarantulas For Free.

Yahoo !

 

[l4nsky]

The new monotypical genus for P. sp Rufus doesn't surprise me at all.

The inclusion of C. sp Hati Hati within the Phormingochilus genus is rather surprising though and a bit troubling IMHO. One of the key identifying factors for Phormingochilus spp up until now has been being endemic to Borneo. Not only is Sulawesi the apparent type locality for C. sp hati hati instead of Borneo, but Sulawesi is also on the other side of the Wallace Line from Borneo......

Just once, I want a paper on Ornithoctoninae spp that DOESN'T cause more confusion lol.

 

[Terrovax]

The new monotypical genus for P. sp Rufus doesn't surprise me at all.

The inclusion of C. sp Hati Hati within the Phormingochilus genus is rather surprising though and a bit troubling IMHO. One of the key identifying factors for Phormingochilus spp up until now has been being endemic to Borneo. Not only is Sulawesi the apparent type locality for C. sp hati hati instead of Borneo, but Sulawesi is also on the other side of the Wallace Line from Borneo......

Just once, I want a paper on Ornithoctoninae spp that DOESN'T cause more confusion lol.

Yes, the authors have mentioned this in the paper: "The applicability of characters for the delineation of the tree-dwelling genera Lampropelma, Omothymus and Phormingochilus needs to be re-evaluated, as a high degree of morphological similarity between the three genera suggests a closer relationship than previously assumed. Due to this high morphological similarity, the relationship between these three genera must be investigated within the framework of a comprehensive molecular analysis of the entire subfamily, which is beyond the scope of the present work but already in preparation."

The name of P. hatihati may or may not change in the future. There is still the phylogenetic revision of the subfamily Ornithoctoninae that still has to be published. We'll see..

 

[l4nsky]

Yes, the authors have mentioned this in the paper: "The applicability of characters for the delineation of the tree-dwelling genera Lampropelma, Omothymus and Phormingochilus needs to be re-evaluated, as a high degree of morphological similarity between the three genera suggests a closer relationship than previously assumed. Due to this high morphological similarity, the relationship between these three genera must be investigated within the framework of a comprehensive molecular analysis of the entire subfamily, which is beyond the scope of the present work but already in preparation."

Correct, IIRC this was mentioned towards the end of the description of Hati Hati in the paper, but Ornithoctoninae is such a well known mess, not just the arboreals lol.

It's just relatively rare to have a non-flying, non-swimming genus of animal straddle both sides of a faunal line like the Wallace Line. A considerable population of a not to distant common ancestor would have had to raft over to Sulawesi from Borneo for this to occur. Having to consider this possibility just adds more mud to the waters.....

 

[fcat]

Didn't P metallica show up on a boat though?

Correct, IIRC this was mentioned towards the end of the description of Hati Hati in the paper, but Ornithoctoninae is such a well known mess, not just the arboreals lol.

It's just relatively rare to have a non-flying, non-swimming genus of animal straddle both sides of a faunal line like the Wallace Line. A considerable population of a not to distant common ancestor would have had to raft over to Sulawesi from Borneo for this to occur. Having to consider this possibility just adds more mud to the waters.....

Edit: I don't know why I thought it came by water, maybe it was by train.


Source:
The Genus Poecilotheria: Its Habits, History, and Species
By Reginald Innes Pocock

You can find a link to the book provided here in this original post

Tarantula Poecilotheria book from 1917

I found this in my research for book specifically on poecilotheria. This book was written in 1917 so it is of course out dated from the information we now hold but very interesting not the least. Give it a read it's not very long and it's cool to see how much our level of education on all...

arachnoboards.com

 

[TheraMygale]

maybe it was by train

After watching a few documentaries on the discovery of tarantulas, the relationship with trains and tarantulas has fascinated me.

many horrible things happened because of the building of railroads.

i like to think putting tarantulas on the map, as being a positive.

 

[l4nsky]

Didn't P metallica show up on a boat though?


Edit: I don't know why I thought it came by water, maybe it was by train.
View attachment 488840

Source:
The Genus Poecilotheria: Its Habits, History, and Species
By Reginald Innes Pocock

You can find a link to the book provided here in this original post

Tarantula Poecilotheria book from 1917

I found this in my research for book specifically on poecilotheria. This book was written in 1917 so it is of course out dated from the information we now hold but very interesting not the least. Give it a read it's not very long and it's cool to see how much our level of education on all...

arachnoboards.com

Somewhat different circumstances. The holotype Poecilotheria metallica was found in a railway yard as a stowaway and described before the reproductive population was found, whereas with C. sp hati hati, the holotype and paratypes used in the paper came from the only known breeding population, located in Sulawesi.

It might be helpful to grab a map to comprehend this, but the Wallace Line is a biogeographical divide between Asian fauna (elephants, tigers, orangutans, etc) and Australian fauna (marsupials etc) that runs between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi. The Wallace Line exists because of the Lombok Strait and Makassar Strait. During an ice age, when sea levels fall drastically and land bridges become exposed for inter-island or even intercontinental migration, these two deep channels will still hold water, acting as a barrier between the fauna of the two continents.

Having separately evolved species which are both land locked without flight or the swimming skills to cross a sea, under the same genus on both sides of the Wallace Line is an interesting proposition to say the least. Should be some interesting molecular results when the work is complete .

 

[tarantulatracker42]

It might be helpful to grab a map to comprehend this, but the Wallace Line is a biogeographical divide between Asian fauna (elephants, tigers, orangutans, etc) and Australian fauna (marsupials etc) that runs between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi. The Wallace Line exists because of the Lombok Strait and Makassar Strait. During an ice age, when sea levels fall drastically and land bridges become exposed for inter-island or even intercontinental migration, these two deep channels will still hold water, acting as a barrier between the fauna of the two continents.

Having separately evolved species which are both land locked without flight or the swimming skills to cross a sea, under the same genus on both sides of the Wallace Line is an interesting proposition to say the least. Should be some interesting molecular results when the work is complete .

Tarantula travelling across Wallace's line is not completely unheard of for tarantulas, with the recent paper on the Australian tarantulas showed they most likely travel though south-east Asia to get into Australia. Absolutely cant wait to see the DNA get thrown at the Ornithoctoninae!

 

[l4nsky]

Tarantula travelling across Wallace's line is not completely unheard of for tarantulas, with the recent paper on the Australian tarantulas showed they most likely travel though south-east Asia to get into Australia. Absolutely cant wait to see the DNA get thrown at the Ornithoctoninae!

Sounds like an interesting read if you want to link me to it .

For clarity, I'm not saying it's an impossibility that tarantulas crossed the Wallace Line from Asia. In fact, Lampropelma is an Ornithoctoninae spp genus found solely on Sulawesi, so it's an Asian genus residing on the Australian side of the barrier and is proof that they can raft across.

What I'm saying is that IMHO it's an improbability that distinct Phormingochilus spp are on both sides of the Wallace Line. If that were the case, then relatively speaking it must have just happened a blink of an eye ago in evolutionary terms.

 

[tarantulatracker42]

Sounds like an interesting read if you want to link me to it .

For clarity, I'm not saying it's an impossibility that tarantulas crossed the Wallace Line from Asia. In fact, Lampropelma is an Ornithoctoninae spp genus found solely on Sulawesi, so it's an Asian genus residing on the Australian side of the barrier and is proof that they can raft across.

What I'm saying is that IMHO it's an improbability that distinct Phormingochilus spp are on both sides of the Wallace Line. If that were the case, then relatively speaking it must have just happened a blink of an eye ago in evolutionary terms.

Here is the link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324002380?via=ihub