Tamopsis is a genus of tree trunk spiders that was first described by B. Baehr & M. Baehr in 1987.[2] Like other members of the family, they may be called two-tailed spiders, referring to two elongated spinnerets.[3] The name is derived from the genus Tama and the Ancient Greek ὄψις (-opsis), meaning "resembling".

Tamopsis
Tamopsis brisbanensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Hersiliidae
Genus: Tamopsis
Baehr & Baehr, 1987[1]
Type species
T. eucalypti
(Rainbow, 1900)
Species

50, see text

These spiders differ from Tama edwardsi in the more complex palpal bulb and the median apophysis that may either be coiled or have a hook- or spoon-shaped structure at its tip. These species are generally arboreal, where the spiders originally included in Tama in 1987 are mainly terrestrial.[2]

Description

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Tamopsis species are small to medium-sized spiders. Females of the type species Tamopsis eucalypti have a body length of about 7 millimetres (0.28 in), and males have a body length of about 5 millimetres (0.20 in). They resemble other members of the family Hersiliidae in having unusually long posterior lateral spinnerets (the outside rear pair), which in some species can be longer than the abdomen. They live in trees rather than on the ground and do not make complex webs. Their legs are relatively long, with an undivided metatarsus. The chelicerae have three teeth at the front edge. The male palpal bulb has a complex median apophysis (projection), sometimes coiled and usually with a hook-shaped structure at the end. The embolus of the palpal bulb can slide out of a lateral apophysis, which otherwise partly or completely hides it. The female has one to three seminal receptacles on each side.[2]

Species

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In 1987, Barbara Baehr and Martin Baehr reviewed the Australian members of the family Hersiliidae. They erected a new genus Tamopsis, and described 25 new species within the genus. Two species formerly placed in the genus Tama were transferred to Tamopsis.[2] They described even more species in a series of papers from 1988 to 1998.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

Two Australian species, T. novaehollandiae and T. brachyura, are regarded as doubtful because their described types are either juveniles or have been lost and are not identifiable from their descriptions.[2]

As of May 2019 it contains fifty species found in Australia and New Guinea:[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Gen. Tamopsis Baehr & Baehr, 1987". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2019. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  2. ^ a b c d e Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1987). "The Australian Hersiliidae (Arachnida: Araneae): Taxonomy, phylogeny, zoogeography". Invertebrate Taxonomy. 1 (4): 351–437. doi:10.1071/IT9870351. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  3. ^ Whyte, Robert & Anderson, Greg. "Hersiliidae Two-tailed spiders". Arachne.org.au. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  4. ^ Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1988). "On Australian Hersiliidae from the South Australian Museum (Arachnida: Araneae). Supplement to the revision of the Australian Hersiliidae". Records of the South Australian Museum. 22 (1): 13–20.
  5. ^ Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1989). "Three new species of genus Tamopsis Baehr & Baehr from Western Australia (Arachnida, Araneae, Hersiliidae). Second supplement to the revision of the Australian Hersiliidae". Records of the South Australian Museum. 14 (3): 309–320.
  6. ^ Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1992). "New species and new records of genus Tamopsis Baehr & Baehr, (Arachnida, Araneae, Hersiliidae). Third supplement to the revision of the Australian Hersiliidae". Records of the South Australian Museum. 16 (1): 61–77.
  7. ^ Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1993). "New species and new records of Hersiliidae from Australia, with an updated key to all Australian species (Arachnida: Araneae: Hersiliidae): Fourth supplement to the revision of the Australian Hersiliidae". Records of the South Australian Museum. 16 (3): 247–391.
  8. ^ Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1995). "New species and new records of Hersiliidae from Australia (Arachnida, Araneae, Hersiliidae). Fifth supplement to the revision of the Australian Hersiliidae". Records of the South Australian Museum (Suppl. 52): 107–118.
  9. ^ Baehr, B. & Baehr, M. (1998). "New species and new records of Hersiliidae from Australia (Arachnida: Araneae: Hersiliidae). Sixth supplement to the revision of the Australian Hersiliidae". Records of the South Australian Museum. 19: 13–38.