The Harpactirinae (commonly called baboon spiders) are a subfamily of tarantulas which are native to the continent of Africa. Like many Old World tarantulas, they have a relatively strong venom and can inflict a painful bite.
Description
Harpactirinae are ground-dwelling spiders which build silk-lined burrows, often under debris such as stones, using their fangs and chelicerae for digging. Habitats include savanna woodlands, grasslands and dry scrublands.
Systematics The following genera and species are present in the Harpactirinae. In addition, the genus Brachionopus (Pocock, 1897) has been suggested for placement in this subfamily, but its taxonomy is currently disputed.
Augacephalus (Gallon, 2002) Type species: Augacephalus breyeri
In synonymy: Augacephalus nigrifemur (Schmidt, 1995) = Augacephalus junodi
Augacephalus breyeri (Hewitt, 1919) — Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini Augacephalus ezendami (Gallon, 2001) — Mozambique, the Mozambique Gold[en] Baboon, Mozambique Half Moon Baboon Augacephalus junodi (Simon, 1904) — East, South Africa, the [East African] Bushveld Golden Brown Featherleg Baboon
Bacillochilus (Gallon, 2010) [monotypic]
Bacillochilus xenostridulans (Gallon, 2010) — Angola
Brachionopus (Pocock, 1897) To quote Platnick's World Spider Catalog v. 12.5,Platnick, Norman I. "World Spider Catalog", "American Museum of Natural History." "N.B.: transferred here from the Barychelidae by Raven, 1985a: 112; Brachyonopus is an unjustified emendation; Raven's transfer was not accepted by Charpentier, 1993: 5 or Schmidt, 2002a: 12 and 2008: 3, who nevertheless identified no close relatives of the genus among the known barychelids; Gallon, 2002: 204 argued for its inclusion in the Barychelidae but indicated that it "does not fit in any current barychelid subfamily" but later (Gallon, 2010b: 79) considered it a harpactirine.".
In other words, its taxonomy is in dispute and the many recent workers do not consider it a theraphosid. All are found in South Africa.
Brachionopus annulatus (Purcell, 1903) Brachionopus leptopelmiformis (Strand, 1907) Brachionopus pretoriae (Purcell, 1904) Brachionopus robustus (Pocock, 1897) Brachionopus tristis (Purcell, 1903)
Ceratogyrus (Pocock, 1897) [Senior synonym of Coelogenium Purcell, 1902] Type species: Ceratogyrus darlingi
Transferred to other genera: Ceratogyrus ezendami → Augacephalus ezendami Ceratogyrus nigrifemur → Augacephalus nigrifemur Ceratogyrus raveni (Smith, 1990) → Pterinochilus chordatus
In synonymy: Ceratogyrus bechuanicus (Purcell, 1902) and Ceratogyrus schultzei (Purcell, 1908) = Ceratogyrus darlingi Ceratogyrus cornuatus (De Wet & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1991) = Ceratogyrus marshalli
Ceratogyrus brachycephalus (Hewitt, 1919) — Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the [Botswanan] Greater Horned Baboon Ceratogyrus darlingi (Pocock, 1897) — Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the [Zimbabwean, African] Rear Horned Baboon, Curved Horn Baboon Ceratogyrus dolichocephalus (Hewitt, 1919) — Zimbabwe Ceratogyrus hillyardi (Smith, 1990) — Malawi Ceratogyrus marshalli (Pocock, 1897) — Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the [Zimbabwean] Straight Horned Baboon Ceratogyrus meridionalis (Hirst, 1907) — Malawi, Mozambique, the [Malawian], Zimbabwe{an} Gray Baboon Ceratogyrus paulseni (Gallon, 2005) — Republic of South Africa Ceratogyrus pillansi (Purcell, 1902) — Zimbabwe, Mozambique Ceratogyrus sanderi (Strand, 1906) — Namibia, Zimbabwe, the [Namibian] Sandy Horned Baboon
Eucratoscelus (Pocock, 1898) Type species: Eucratoscelus constrictus
Transferred to other genera: Eucratoscelus tenuitibialis (Schmidt & Gelling, 2000) → Pterinochilus lugardi
In synonymy: Eucratoscelus longiceps (Pocock, 1898) and Eucratoscelus spinifer = Eucratoscelus constrictus
Eucratoscelus constrictus (Gerstäcker, 1873) — Kenya, Tanzania Eucratoscelus pachypus (Schmidt & Von Wirth, 1990) — Tanzania
Harpactira (Ausserer, 1871) Type species: Harpactira atra
Harpactira atra (Latreille, 1832) — South Africa Harpactira baviana (Purcell, 1903) — South Africa Harpactira cafreriana (Walckenaer, 1837) — South Africa Harpactira chrysogaster (Pocock, 1897) — South Africa Harpactira curator (Pocock, 1898) — South Africa Harpactira curvipes (Pocock, 1897) — South Africa Harpactira dictator (Purcell, 1902) — South Africa Harpactira gigas (Pocock, 1898) — South Africa Harpactira guttata (Strand, 1907) — South Africa Harpactira hamiltoni (Pocock, 1902) — South Africa Harpactira lineata (Pocock, 1897) — South Africa Harpactira lyrata (Simon, 1892) — South Africa Harpactira marksi (Purcell, 1902) — South Africa Harpactira namaquensis (Purcell, 1902) — Namibia, South Africa Harpactira pulchripes (Pocock, 1901) — South Africa, the [South African] Golden Blue Leg{ged} Baboon, Slate Gray Leg(ged) Baboon Harpactira tigrina (Ausserer, 1875) — South Africa
Harpactirella (Purcell, 1902) [Senior synonym of Luphocemus {Denis, 1960}] Type species: Harpactirella treleaveni
Transferred to other genera: Harpactirella flavipilosa (Lawrence, 1936) → Pterinochilus lugardi Harpactirella latithorax (Strand, 1908) → Euathlus vulpinus Harpactirella leleupi (Benoit, 1965) → Idiothele nigrofulva
Harpactirella domicola (Purcell, 1903) — South Africa Harpactirella helenae (Purcell, 1903) — South Africa Harpactirella insidiosa (Denis, 1960) — Morocco (Dubious) Harpactirella karrooica (Purcell, 1902) — South Africa Harpactirella lapidaria (Purcell, 1908) — South Africa Harpactirella lightfooti (Purcell, 1902) — South Africa Harpactirella longipes (Purcell, 1902) — South Africa Harpactirella magna (Purcell, 1903) — South Africa Harpactirella overdijki (Gallon, 2010) — South Africa Harpactirella schwarzi (Purcell, 1904) — South Africa Harpactirella spinosa (Purcell, 1908) — South Africa Harpactirella treleaveni (Purcell, 1902) — South Africa
Idiothele (Hewitt, 1919) Type species: Idiothele nigrofulva
In synonymy: Idiothele crassispina (Purcell, 1902) and Idiothele leleupi (Benoit, 1965) = Idiothele nigrofulva
Idiothele mira (Gallon, 2010) - South Africa, the South African Blue Footed Trapdoor Baboon Idiothele nigrofulva (Pocock, 1898) — Southern Africa
Pterinochilus (Pocock, 1897) [Senior synonym of Pterinochilides {Strand, 1920}] Type species: Pterinochilus vorax
Transferred to other genera: Pterinochilus breyeri → Augacephalus breyeri Pterinochilus constrictus and Pterinochilus spinifer → Eucratoscelus constrictus Pterinochilus crassispinus and Pterinochilus nigrofulvus → Idiothele nigrofulva Pterinochilus junodi and Pterinochilus nigrifemur → Augacephalus junodi Pterinochilus meridionalis → Ceratogyrus meridionalis Pterinochilus schoenlandi → Trichognathella schoenlandi
In synonymy: Pterinochilus affinis (Tullgren, 1910), Pterinochilus brunellii (Caporiacco, 1940), Pterinochilus carnivorus (Strand, 1917), Pterinochilus raptor (Strand, 1906), Pterinochilus raveni (Smith, 1990), Pterinochilus sjostedti (Tullgren, 1910), and Pterinochilus widenmanni (Strand, 1906) = Pterinochilus chordatus Pterinochilus flavipilosus (Lawrence, 1936), Pterinochilus pluridentatus (Hewitt, 1919), and Pterinochilus tenuitibialis = Pterinochilus lugardi Pterinochilus hindei (Hirst, 1907), Pterinochilus leetzi (Schmidt, 2002), and Pterinochilus mamillatus (Strand, 1906) = Pterinochilus murinus Pterinochilus mutus (Strand, 1920), Pterinochilus obenbergeri (Strand, 1920), and Pterinochilus occidentalis (Strand, 1920) = Pterinochilus simoni
Pterinochilus alluaudi (Berland, 1914) — Kenya Pterinochilus andrewsmithi (Gallon, 2009) — Northwestern Kenya Pterinochilus chordatus (Gerstäcker, 1873) — East Africa, the Kilimanjaro Mustard Baboon Pterinochilus cryptus (Gallon, 2008) — Angola Pterinochilus lapalala (Gallon & Engelbrecht, 2011) — Waterberg mountains of Limpopo Province, South Africa Pterinochilus lugardi (Pocock, 1900) — Eastern and Southern Africa, the Dodoma Fort Hall Baboon Pterinochilus murinus (Pocock, 1897) — Angola, Central, Eastern, Southern Africa, the Usumbara Orange Baboon, Mombasa Golden Starburst [Baboon], "OBT" Pterinochilus raygabrieli (Gallon, 2009) — Southcentral Kenya Pterinochilus simoni (Berland, 1917) — Angola, Congo Pterinochilus vorax (Pocock, 1897) — Angola, Central, East Africa
Trichognathella (Gallon, 2004) [Monotypic?]
Trichognathella schoenlandi (Pocock, 1900) — South Africa
In pop culture The writer and philologist, J. R. R. Tolkien, was bitten by a large baboon spider in 1890s during his youth. Some believe that this influenced his published stories as an adult
References
External links Norman I. Platnick: The World Spider Catalog, American Museum of Natural History. www.baboonspiders.de Baboon spiders Systematic Taxonomy www.baboonspiders.de Key of the genera of the subfamily Harpactirinae