World Spider Catalog

Theraphosidae Thorell, 1869

Family | ACCEPTED

N.B.: for the year of description (1869 vs. 1870) see Sherwood et al., 2021: 396, Breitling, 2021b published a different opinion; Raven, 1994: 333 considered the Trichopelmatinae (genera Trichopelma and Psalistops) to belong to the Theraphosidae rather than to Barychelidae, but has not provided a phylogenetic argument for this change; Trichopelma was finally transferred to the Theraphosidae (Guadanucci, 2014: 514) as well as Psalistops (Mori & Bertani, 2020: 37), so in fact Trichopelmatinae is now transferred to Theraphosidae; the monophyly of Theraphosidae and of the most recognized theraphosid subfamilies was confirmed by Lüddecke et al., 2018 and by Foley et al., 2019.

Gen. Melopoeus Pocock, 1895 urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:05121

type Selenocosmia albostriata Simon, 1886; gender masculine

N.B.: removed from the synonym of Cyriopagopus Simon, 1887 (rejecting Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 28) and from the synonymy with Haplopelma Simon, 1892 (rejecting Raven, 1985a: 116) by Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25.

In synonymy:

Melopoeus huwenus (Wang, Peng & Xie, 1993) = Melopoeus schmidti (von Wirth, 1991) (Zhu & Zhang, 2008: 420, sub Haplopelma)

Melopoeus albostriatus (Simon, 1886) | | Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002046 TYPE SPECIES

Selenocosmia albostriata Simon, 1886a: 161 (Dmf) Original description

Melopoeus albostriatus Pocock, 1895a: 180

Melopoeus albostriatus Simon, 1903a: 945, f. 1089-1091 (m)

Melopoeus albostriatus Simon, 1904b: 270, pl. 16, f. 1 (mf)

Melopoeus albostriatus Schmidt, 1986: 73, f. 128-130 (m)

Melopoeus albostriatus Smith, 1987c: 10, f. 1-15 (m)

Haplopelma albostriatum Smith, 1996: 25, f. 27-36 (m)

Haplopelma albostriatum Peters, 2000b: 15, f. 19-20 (m)

Cyriopagopus albostriatum Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Melopoeus albostriatus Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25, f. 2, 4, 6, 9-10, 12, 14 (mf, T from Cyriopagopus)

Melopoeus hainanus (Liang, Peng, Huang & Chen, 1999) | | China (Hainan) urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:038350

Selenocosmia hainana Liang et al., 1999: 300, f. 1-4 (Df) Original description

Ornithoctonus hainana Zhu, Song & Li, 2001: 1, f. 1-7 (Dm, f, T from Selenocosmia)

Haplopelma hainanum Schmidt, 2003l: 250, f. 815-817 (mf)

Selenocosmia hainana Chen et al., 2004: 607, f. 5-10 (m)

Haplopelma hainanum von Wirth & Striffler, 2005: 17 (T from Ornithoctonus)

Haplopelma hainanum Zhu & Zhang, 2008: 427, f. 2A-G, 10 (mf)

Cyriopagopus hainanum Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Haplopelma hainanum Hauke, 2017: 7, f. 4a-b, 6c, 7b (f)

Cyriopagopus hainanum Zhang & Wang, 2017: 755, 5 f. (mf)

Melopoeus hainanus Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25 (T from Cyriopagopus)

Melopoeus lividus (Smith, 1996) | | Myanmar, Thailand urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002049

Haplopelma lividum Smith, 1996: 22, f. 1-14 (Dmf) Original description

Haplopelma lividum Peters, 2000b: 17, f. 28, 30-31 (mf)

Haplopelma lividum Schmidt, 2003l: 250, f. 818-819 (mf)

Haplopelma lividum Hauke & von Wirth, 2013: 13, f. 2, 11, 13, 25 (f [no genitalia])

Cyriopagopus lividum Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Haplopelma lividum Hauke & von Wirth, 2015: 14, f. 2, 11, 13, 25 (f [no genitalia])

Haplopelma lividum Hauke, 2017: 17, f. 3a-b, 8b, 38a-d (mf [no genitalia])

Melopoeus lividus Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25 (T from Cyriopagopus)

Melopoeus longipes (von Wirth & Striffler, 2005) | | Thailand, Cambodia, Laos urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:039499

Haplopelma longipes von Wirth & Striffler, 2005: 17, f. 19-29 (Dmf) Original description

Haplopelma longipes Schmidt, 2006c: 9, f. 2 (f)

Haplopelma longipes Hauke & von Wirth, 2013: 12, f. 1, 3-4, 6, 8-10, 12, 23-24 (f)

Cyriopagopus longipes Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Haplopelma longipes Hauke & von Wirth, 2015: 44, f. 1, 3-4, 6, 8-10, 12, 18, 23-24, 26 (f)

Haplopelma longipes Hauke, 2017: 7, f. 6b, 21a (f)

Cyriopagopus longipes Chomphuphuang et al., 2023: 124, f. 14H (m)

Melopoeus longipes Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25 (T from Cyriopagopus)

Melopoeus minax Thorell, 1897 | | Myanmar, Thailand urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002050

Melopoeus minax Thorell, 1897a: 182 (Df) Original description

Ornithoctonus minax Gravely, 1935b: 211, f. a-c (Dm)

Melopoeus minax Hancock & Hancock, 1989: 48, f. 43 (f)

Haplopelma minax Smith, 1996: 24, f. 15-26 (m)

Haplopelma minax Peters, 2000b: 18, f. 32C-E (mf)

Haplopelma minax Schmidt, 2003l: 250, f. 820-821 (m)

Cyriopagopus minax Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Cyriopagopus minax Chomphuphuang et al., 2023: 124, f. 14G (m)

Melopoeus minax Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25 (T from Cyriopagopus)

Melopoeus schmidti (von Wirth, 1991) | | China, Vietnam urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002053

Haplopelma schmidti von Wirth, 1991b: 7, f. 1-11 (Df) Original description

Selenocosmia huwena Wang, Peng & Xie, 1993: 72, f. 1-4 (Df; m f. 5-6 see Selenocosmia jiafu) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002414]

Haplopelma schmidti Schmidt, 1993d: 122, f. 386, 393 (f)

Selenocosmia huwena Yin & Bao, 1995b: 131, f. 1-9 (Dm)

Selenocosmia huwena Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 40, f. 17N-P (mf)

Selenocosmia huwena Peters, 1999: 7, f. 1, 4 (f)

Haplopelma schmidti Peters, 1999: 11, f. 2-3 (f)

Ornithoctonus huwena Zhu & Song, 2000a: 54, f. 1-16 (mf, T from Selenocosmia)

Haplopelma schmidti Peters, 2000b: 19, f. 35 (f)

Selenocosmia huwena Zhang, 2000b: 22, f. 1.1-7 (mf)

Ornithoctonus huwena Peters, 2000b: 59, f. 157-159 (mf)

Ornithoctonus huwena Chen et al., 2003: 70, f. 8 (m)

Haplopelma schmidti Schmidt, 2003l: 250, f. 822-825 (mf)

Haplopelma huwenum von Wirth & Striffler, 2005: 17 (T from Ornithoctonus)

Ornithoctonus huwena Pham & Vu, 2005: 11, f. 1, 2a-g (f)

Haplopelma schmidti Zhu & Zhang, 2008: 429, f. 3A-K, 13-14 (mf, S of Haplopelma huwenum)

Haplopelma schmidti Schmidt, 2010a: 23, f. 3.1-4 (f)

Cyriopagopus schmidti Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Melopoeus schmidti Schmidt, 2015b: 27, f. 2 (f)

Haplopelma schmidti Hauke, 2017: 7, f. 6d (f)

Haplopelma aff. schmidti Sherwood, Logunov & Gabriel, 2022: 212, f. 5-6 (f, the S of Cyriopagopus and Haplopelma is erroneous)

Melopoeus schmidti Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25 (T from Cyriopagopus)

Melopoeus vonwirthi (Schmidt, 2005) | | Thailand or Cambodia or Vietnam urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:039500

Haplopelma vonwirthi Schmidt, 2005a: 5, f. 1-3 (f, nomen nudum, no type depository; probably misidentified H. minax per von Wirth & Striffler, 2005)

Haplopelma vonwirthi Peters, 2005b: 72, f. 235-241 (f, f. m)

Haplopelma vonwirthi Schmidt, 2005g: 24, f. 1-3 (Df) Original description

Haplopelma volkervonwirthi Schmidt, 2006a: 7, f. 1-3 (Dm, superfluous replacement name)

Haplopelma volkervonwirthi Schmidt, 2006c: 9, f. 1 (f)

Cyriopagopus vonwirthi Smith & Jacobi, 2015: 47 (T from Haplopelma)

Melopoeus vonwirthi Smith, Daniel & Vignaud, 2026: 25 (T from Cyriopagopus)