Tliltocatl epicureanus

Tliltocatl epicureanus (synonym Brachypelma epicureanum) is a species of spider in the family Theraphosidae (tarantulas), found in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.

Tliltocatl epicureanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Mygalomorphae
Family: Theraphosidae
Genus: Tliltocatl
Species:
T. epicureanus
Binomial name
Tliltocatl epicureanus
Synonyms[1]
  • Brachypelma epicureanum (Chamberlin, 1925)
  • Eurypelma epicureana Chamberlin, 1925
  • Dugesiella epicureana (Chamberlin, 1925)

Description

The male holotype of Tliltocatl epicureanus has a total body length of 50 mm. The fourth leg is longest at 62 mm. The carapace and legs are brown; the abdomen is black with rusty-red hairs (setae). Plumose setae are present on the femur of the first leg.[2]

Taxonomy

Tliltocatl epicureanus was first described, as Eurypelma epicureana, by Ralph Chamberlin in 1925. It was transferred to the genus Brachypelma by Andrew Smith in 1993, retaining the incorrect ending of the specific name, which he corrected to epicureanum in 1995.[1] Chamberlin described a male and a female, both from Chichen Itza in Yucatán, Mexico.[3] In November 2019, it was proposed that Brachypelma epicureanum be moved to the genus Tliltocatl; this has been accepted by the World Spider Catalog.[1]

Distribution and habitat

Tliltocatl epicureanus is found in central Yucatán, in moist forest and rainforest. Apparently closely related to T. vagans, it is much less widespread in south-eastern Mexico.[2]

Conservation

All species of Brachypelma, then including Tliltocatl, were placed on CITES Appendix II in 1994, thus restricting trade.[4] Nevertheless, large numbers of tarantulas caught in the wild continue to be smuggled out of Mexico.[5]

gollark: Weird.
gollark: Interesting backstories? Do tell.
gollark: I should probably check out some of the other general science-y ones.
gollark: Fascinating.
gollark: ... maybe alts using GPT-3 or something to simulate being separate people?

References
  1. "Taxon details Tliltocatl epicureanus (Chamberlin, 1925)", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2020-03-01
  2. Smith, Andrew M. (1995), Tarantula Spiders : Tarantulas of the U.S.A. and Mexico, London: Fitzgerald Publishing, ISBN 09510939-9-1
  3. Chamberlin, R.V. (1925), "New North American spiders", Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series, 14: 105–142
  4. "Brachypelma smithi (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897): Documents", Species+, UNEP-WCMC & CITES Secretariat, retrieved 2017-09-22
  5. Mendoza, J. & Francke, O. (2017), "Systematic revision of Brachypelma red-kneed tarantulas (Araneae: Theraphosidae), and the use of DNA barcodes to assist in the identification and conservation of CITES-listed species", Invertebrate Systematics, 31 (2): 157–179, doi:10.1071/IS16023
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