Neoheterophrictus

Neoheterophrictus is a genus of tarantula in the family Theraphosidae. It comprises 8 species, all found in India.^[2]

Neoheterophrictus
Female Neoheterophrictus smithi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Mygalomorphae
Family:	Theraphosidae
Genus:	Neoheterophrictus Siliwal & Raven, 2012[1]
Type species
Neoheterophrictus crurofulvus Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012[1]
Species
See text.

Characteristics

Neoheterophrictus is similar to Heterophrictus and Plesiophrictus, however the females differ by having a different spermathecae structure, which have two receptacles with many lobes/termini at the end. Males are distinguished from Plesiophrictus by the absence of a tegular keel on the male palpal bulb. It occurs in the Western Ghats, India.^[3]

Etymology

The name is a combination of two words neo and heterophrictus, neo in Latin meaning "new" and Heterophrictus being a genus name within the family Theraphosidae.^[3][2]

Species

As of January 2022^[update], the World Spider Catalog recognized 8 species. All are restricted to India.^[1]

• Neoheterophrictus amboli Mirza & Sanap, 2014 - India
• Neoheterophrictus bhori (Gravely, 1915) - India
• Neoheterophrictus chimminiensis Sunil Jose, 2020 - India
• Neoheterophrictus crurofulvus Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012 (type) - India
• Neoheterophrictus madraspatanus (Gravely, 1935) - India
• Neoheterophrictus sahyadri Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012 - India
• Neoheterophrictus smithi Mirza, Bhosale & Sanap, 2014 - India
• Neoheterophrictus uttarakannada Siliwal, Gupta & Raven, 2012 - India