Bonnetina is a genus of Mexican tarantulas that was first described by F. Vol in 2000.
Morphology Before the era of genetics and molecular phylogeny, tarantulas were classified based on the presence or absence of physical traits and characteristics. However, tarantulas happen to be excessively homoplastic, meaning the same seemingly unique characteristics have evolved separately rather than from a common ancestor, leading to many misplacements and misidentifications, and this genus is no different.
In 2018, a molecular study and phylogenetic analysis by Ortiz, Francke, and Bond aimed to create a timeline in the evolution of Bonnetina and to address possible monophyly in the genus. They sampled DNA from select taxa, sequencing five nuclear markers and one mitochondrial marker, concluding that Bonnetina was composed of unrelated species that simply shared physical attributes, with the exception of B. juxtantricola. Only the sexual features were observed not to be homoplastic, suggesting that sexual selection may have been a driving force in their divergence.
Species it contains sixteen species, all found in Mexico: Bonnetina alagoni Locht & Medina, 2008 – Mexico Bonnetina aviae Estrada-Alvarez & Locht, 2011 – Mexico Bonnetina cyaneifemur Vol, 2000 (type) – Mexico Bonnetina flammigera Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina hijmenseni Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina hobbit Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina julesvernei Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina malinalli Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina megagyna Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina minax Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina papalutlensis Mendoza, 2012 – Mexico Bonnetina tanzeri Schmidt, 2012 – Mexico Bonnetina tenuiverpis Ortiz & Francke, 2015 – Mexico Bonnetina tindoo Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexicoa Bonnetina unam Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico Bonnetina vittata Ortiz & Francke, 2017 – Mexico
In synonymy: B. reyescastilloi Estrada-Alvarez, 2014 = Bonnetina tanzeri Schmidt, 2012
References