Revision of Lampropelma, Cyriapagopus, and Haplopelma

[micheldied]

Just thought I'd share this here since no seems to have already.

"Smith, A.M. & M.A. Jacobi. 2015. Revision of the genus Phormingochilus (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Ornithoctoninae) with the description of three new species from Sulawesi and Sarawak and notes on the placement of the genera Cyriopagopus, Lampropelma and Omothymus. Journal of the British Tarantula Society 30(3): 26-51.
Abstract
Three new arboreal theraphosid spiders of the genus Phormingochilus Po****, 1895 are here described from Sulawesi and Sarawak, Borneo: Phormingochilus carpenteri sp. nov., P. kirki sp. nov., and P. pennelhewletti sp. nov. The genus has been revised and historical species redescribed. The authors have also discussed the placement of the Ornithoctoninae genera Cyriopagopus Simon, 1887, Lampropelma Simon, 1892 and Omothymus Thorell, 1891 and, after an examination of the type material, concluded that Cyriopagopus is a senior synonym of the genus Haplopelma Simon, 1892 and that the genus Omothymus needs to be restored to house the arboreal Malaysian mainland species schioedtei (Thorell, 1891) and thorelli (Simon, 1901), which were formerly asssigned to the genus Cyriopagopus but have now been restored to their original placement. We have also concluded, on examination of the type material that the female of Lampropelma violaceopes Abraham, 1924 from Southern Malaysia should be removed from the genus Lampropelma (whose distibution at present, we believe to be limited to Lampropelma nigerrimum from Sangihe (Sangir) Island) and placed in the genus Omothymus, whereas the male, from Penang, is deemed to be a misidentified specimen of Cyriopagopus (Omothymus) schioedtei."
TL;DR VERSION:
Omothymus schioedtei, Omothymus violaceopes, and all Haplopelma are Cyriopagopus....."

 

[MassExodus]

Just thought I'd share this here since no seems to have already.

"Smith, A.M. & M.A. Jacobi. 2015. Revision of the genus Phormingochilus (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Ornithoctoninae) with the description of three new species from Sulawesi and Sarawak and notes on the placement of the genera Cyriopagopus, Lampropelma and Omothymus. Journal of the British Tarantula Society 30(3): 26-51.
Abstract
Three new arboreal theraphosid spiders of the genus Phormingochilus Po****, 1895 are here described from Sulawesi and Sarawak, Borneo: Phormingochilus carpenteri sp. nov., P. kirki sp. nov., and P. pennelhewletti sp. nov. The genus has been revised and historical species redescribed. The authors have also discussed the placement of the Ornithoctoninae genera Cyriopagopus Simon, 1887, Lampropelma Simon, 1892 and Omothymus Thorell, 1891 and, after an examination of the type material, concluded that Cyriopagopus is a senior synonym of the genus Haplopelma Simon, 1892 and that the genus Omothymus needs to be restored to house the arboreal Malaysian mainland species schioedtei (Thorell, 1891) and thorelli (Simon, 1901), which were formerly asssigned to the genus Cyriopagopus but have now been restored to their original placement. We have also concluded, on examination of the type material that the female of Lampropelma violaceopes Abraham, 1924 from Southern Malaysia should be removed from the genus Lampropelma (whose distibution at present, we believe to be limited to Lampropelma nigerrimum from Sangihe (Sangir) Island) and placed in the genus Omothymus, whereas the male, from Penang, is deemed to be a misidentified specimen of Cyriopagopus (Omothymus) schioedtei."
TL;DR VERSION:
Omothymus schioedtei, Omothymus violaceopes, and all Haplopelma are Cyriopagopus....."

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Enn49]

Am I reading this correctly regarding the ones I have?
Cyriopagopus schioedtei is now Omothymus schioedtei
Lampropelma sp. Borneo Black stays the same
Haplopelma sp. Midnight Blue is now Cyriopagopus sp. Midnight Blue

 

[Thistles]

Am I reading this correctly regarding the ones I have?
Cyriopagopus schioedtei is now Omothymus schioedtei
Lampropelma sp. Borneo Black stays the same
Haplopelma sp. Midnight Blue is now Cyriopagopus sp. Midnight Blue

Correct. Mostly. I think the only described Lampropelma is L. nigerrimum but the Borneo Black has nowhere else to go so it will stay there until it is described. The changes I have to make in my labeling are Omothymus violaceopes, Omothymus schioedtei and Cyriopagopus lividum.

 

[Enn49]

Correct. Mostly. I think the only described Lampropelma is L. nigerrimum but the Borneo Black has nowhere else to go so it will stay there until it is described. The changes I have to make in my labeling are Omothymus violaceopes, Omothymus schioedtei and Cyriopagopus lividum.

Thank you.

 

[MassExodus]

I have a Cyriopagopus now. Yay! -.-

 

[Thistles]

I have a Cyriopagopus now. Yay! -.-

They've always been among my favorite genera... funny thing is (with a few exceptions) I never particularly loved Haplopelma.

 

[MassExodus]

They've always been among my favorite genera... funny thing is (with a few exceptions) I never particularly loved Haplopelma.

I've actually never looked at any Cyriopagopus closely..the only (formerly) Haplopelma I have is a gorgeous female lividum, who I love but never see. Are all the Cyriopagopus fossorial?

 

[micheldied]

Am I reading this correctly regarding the ones I have?
Cyriopagopus schioedtei is now Omothymus schioedtei
Lampropelma sp. Borneo Black stays the same
Haplopelma sp. Midnight Blue is now Cyriopagopus sp. Midnight Blue

That's correct.

They've always been among my favorite genera... funny thing is (with a few exceptions) I never particularly loved Haplopelma.

I'm the same way. Cyriapagopus are all now Omothymus, though, so we can still treat them as completely different from the Haplopelma.

 

[micheldied]

I've actually never looked at any Cyriopagopus closely..the only (formerly) Haplopelma I have is a gorgeous female lividum, who I love but never see. Are all the Cyriopagopus fossorial?

They're(what were Cyriapagopus before this most recent change) all arboreal. The(now) Cyriapagopus are all fossorial.

 

[MassExodus]

They're(what were Cyriapagopus before this most recent change) all arboreal. The(now) Cyriapagopus are all fossorial.

Jesus. Lol.

 

[Thistles]

Are you sure, @micheldied? The way i read it, the only Cyriopagopus that moved is C. schioedtei. The genus wasn't moved entirely or swapped with Haplopelma. Haplopelma were just moved to Cyriopagopus, C. schioedtei was moved out and the other Cyriopagopus stayed the same.

Keep in mind that this only covers described species. An animal like Cyriopagopus sp. "hati hati" is just out there by hobbyists rather than taxonomists and could end up being moved when it is officially described.

 

[micheldied]

Are you sure, @micheldied? The way i read it, the only Cyriopagopus that moved is C. schioedtei. The genus wasn't moved entirely or swapped with Haplopelma. Haplopelma were just moved to Cyriopagopus, C. schioedtei was moved out and the other Cyriopagopus stayed the same,

The two "confirmed" Cyriapagopus(thorelli and schioedtei) are both moved to Omothymus, and likely any other (arboreal) species closely related to them that will be named in the future. Haplopelma (fossorials) have replaced Cyriapagopus. The Cyriapagopus sp. that resemble "Omothymus" are likely to be placed there in the future.

 

[Thistles]

You beat my edit!

 

[micheldied]

You beat my edit!

You didn't add in O. thorelli.

 

[Thistles]

You didn't add in O. thorelli.

True. You beat and bettered my edit. Also, "put" not "out." Damn iPad...

 

[Nicolas C]

That's a hell of a change! No more "haplos"! Plus some minor adjustments (Haplopelma lividum -> Cyriopagopus lividus for instance)...

The fact is that such a massive change, which isn't very surprising for Lampropelma violaceopes and maybe even Haplopelma (it had to be done), has raised some controverses in Germany for instance. In another forum where I go (a swiss german forum), the discussion has been strong. It seems that the methods used by Smith and Jacobi were too old to be trustworthy. For instance, the works of Volker von Wirth (famous german specialist, specially into asian tarantulas) weren't taken into consideration. And some keys used now for determination (stridulation organs, spines on metatarsus IV, etc.) weren't used. What they say on this forum (and that I've been copying above) is: obsolete methods, controversial article, maybe we should wait a little bit before changing all the names... They certainly will be changed, no doubts, but this work may not be the final word on the subject (is there any kind of final word on taxonomy anyway???).

Let's see what the WSC will do, and were the research will lead the taxonomists...

 

[micheldied]

That's a hell of a change! No more "haplos"! Plus some minor adjustments (Haplopelma lividum -> Cyriopagopus lividus for instance)...

The fact is that such a massive change, which isn't very surprising for Lampropelma violaceopes and maybe even Haplopelma (it had to be done), has raised some controverses in Germany for instance. In another forum where I go (a swiss german forum), the discussion has been strong. It seems that the methods used by Smith and Jacobi were too old to be trustworthy. For instance, the works of Volker von Wirth (famous german specialist, specially into asian tarantulas) weren't taken into consideration. And some keys used now for determination (stridulation organs, spines on metatarsus IV, etc.) weren't used. What they say on this forum (and that I've been copying above) is: obsolete methods, controversial article, maybe we should wait a little bit before changing all the names... They certainly will be changed, no doubts, but this work may not be the final word on the subject (is there any kind of final word on taxonomy anyway???).

Let's see what the WSC will do, and were the research will lead the taxonomists...

I feel like they were in a rush to release these taxonomic revisions, with all the confusion surrounding these groups of Ts. It's a step in the right direction. You're right, however, I see certain things being changed again in the future.