ON THE TWO FORMS OF POECILOTHERIA (ARANEAE: THERAPHOSIDAE: SELENOCOSMIINAE) CONSIDERED P. SUBFUSCA IN ARACHNOCULTURE AND THEIR PROPER NOMENCLATURE, WITH A TAXONOMIC OVERVIEW AND DISTRIBUTION MAP OF TIGER SPIDER SPECIES IN SRI LANKA

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作   者：

MICHAEL A. JACOBI; 

关键词：

genus;  lowland;  fourteen; 

期刊名称：

Journal of the British Tarantula Society

i s s n：

0962-449X

年卷期：

2016 年 31 卷 3 期

页   码：

20-37

页   码：

摘   要：

Pocock (1895) described Poecilotheria subfusca. It is one of fourteen species in the genus Poecilotheria, the sole representative ofthe tribe Poecilotheriini of the subfamily Selenocosmiinae, currently recognized by the World Spider Catalog (2016). Of the fourteen species of Poecilotheria currently recognized, eight are native to India and six to Sri Lanka. It has been suggested that one Sri Lankan species, P. rajoei Nanayakkara et al. 2012, is a Sri Lankan population of the Indian species P. regalis, which might have been transported in wood piles carried by train (Andrew Smith, pers. comm.). Even if the latter was originally true, geographic isolation would mean this spider is undergoing speciation if not already a distinct species. Still, both spiders are the only Poecilotheria with a pale ventral band on the opisthosoma, and the ventral leg markings (VLM) between the two are very similar. Simple variation could account for the minor differences in appearance used to differentiate P. rajaei. A seventh species of Poecilotheria has been discovered in Sri Lanka that is closely related to P. vittata (Thorsten Kroes, Ranil Nanayakkara, pers. comm.). P. vittata is known from extreme southeastern Sri Lanka up to the coastal area, whereas the new species (Nanayakkara, in prep.) is found a good distance to the northwest, just southwest of Poecilotheria sp. highland and south of Worlds End, in the lowland valleys between two rivers (Thorsten Kroes, pers. comm.).