What determines what genus a tarantula belongs to?

[miranda0331]

Hey everyone, I tried googling my question and couldn’t really find an answer. I was just curious what factors determine what genus a tarantula belongs too? I know that sometimes they even reclassify them into a different genus and I’m not really sure why?

Any answers or article references would be greatly appreciated

 

[KaroKoenig]

Science advances. Often, anatomical features thought to be diagnostic turn out not to be. These days, there is genetics, of course. A huge gamechanger,much more stringent than anatomy.

 

[DomGom TheFather]

Human beings have a need to classify everything even before we fully understand them.

I don't care too much what they call them.
I just appreciate them for what they are.

 

[miranda0331]

Human beings have a need to classify everything even before we fully understand them.

I don't care too much what they call them.
I just appreciate them for what they are.

I don’t care either, just curious

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

I believe its because of the extent of distinctions between species and also their location.

 

[viper69]

Hey everyone, I tried googling my question and couldn’t really find an answer. I was just curious what factors determine what genus a tarantula belongs too? I know that sometimes they even reclassify them into a different genus and I’m not really sure why?

Any answers or article references would be greatly appreciated

Depending on the scientist, cladistics alone, or cladistics and genetics, nothing more.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Hey everyone, I tried googling my question and couldn’t really find an answer. I was just curious what factors determine what genus a tarantula belongs too? I know that sometimes they even reclassify them into a different genus and I’m not really sure why?

Any answers or article references would be greatly appreciated

Did you have a specific genus in mind? The question is very broad considering a genus is a taxonomic rank that is not as exclusive as the species rank but inclusive enough to show a more narrow grouping of related organisms than the subfamily or family. The definition of a genus and the criteria for classifying and naming a tarantula genus is the same as any other organism. One just looks for characteristics (physical, genetic, geographic distribution, behavior, etc.) specific to the tarantulas, or family Theraphosidae.

The reason different species are moved to one genus to another, or a new genus is created or synonymized with another, is because one scientist finds a single or multiple characters considered to be of generic significance that another scientist either missed or had a differing opinion on. Taxonomy- the grouping and naming of related organisms- is a completely arbitrary science. If you head over to the World Spider Catalog and start reading a lot of PDFs on tarantula taxonomy, you will start to recognize the set of characteristics generally accepted to be of generic significance.