Aphonopelma xwalxwal

Aphonopelma xwalxwal is a species of spiders in the family Theraphosidae, found in United States (California).[1]

Aphonopelma xwalxwal
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Mygalomorphae
Family: Theraphosidae
Genus: Aphonopelma
Species:
A. xwalxwal
Binomial name
Aphonopelma xwalxwal
Hamilton, 2016[1]

Etymology and pronunciation

A. xwalxwal is pronounced like "hwal-hwal", with "hw" like the rasping noise of blowing out a candle, "a" as in "father", and "l" like "light". It comes from the Cahuilla language and means "a small spider". The Cahuilla tribe originally owned the land where this species is currently (as of February 2016) only known from, the Coachella Valley and Borrego Springs.[1]

Distribution

Aphonopelma xwalxwal is only known from the Palm Springs and Borrego Springs (as of February 2016). It is probably restricted to the Sonoran Mountains and Sonoran Mountain Woodland and Shrubland.[1]

Diagnostic Features

A. xwalxwal is most similar to A. joshua, only larger and a different breeding period (autumn instead of summer). It is one of the largest dwarf Aphonopelma species. The fourth femur is from 1 cm to 1.05 cm long. It is only known from the male.[1]

gollark: Although admittedly that study wasn't double-blind, because the impact craters were fairly obvious.
gollark: Well, lunar railgun impacts have been shown to be bad for your health.
gollark: The moon *could* be moved, but this would take some time and you could move out of the way.
gollark: Admittedly due to lunar positioning constraints, it may not actually be possible to target you right now. I haven't checked.
gollark: Do you understand the idea of "internal consistency" and "lunar railguns standing by".

References
  1. Hamilton, C.A.; Hendrixson, B.E. & Bond, J.E. (2016), "Taxonomic revision of the tarantula genus Aphonopelma Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae) within the United States", ZooKeys, 560: 1–340, doi:10.3897/zookeys.560.6264, PMC 4768370, PMID 27006611


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