Psalmopoeus copanensis Gabriel & Sherwood, 2020
♀ Female described
Type Locality and Records
Type locality
Distribution
Type Locality: Copan, Honduras
Etymology
The species epithet is in reference to Copán, the location in Honduras in which the holotype was collected.
Taxonomic History
- 2020 Psalmopoeus copanensis Gabriel & Sherwood, 2020
- Junior synonym of Psalmopoeus victori Mendoza, 2014 (Cifuentes & Bertani, 2022). Separated from P. victori only by spermathecae narrower distally than at the base; the published figure is compatible with P. victori and with a female examined from Izabal, Guatemala, some 100 km from the type locality. The difference falls within the morphological variation normal in theraphosid spermathecae.
- Restored. Peñaherrera-R. et al. (2025) removed this species from synonymy with P. victori. Cifuentes & Bertani had examined none of the relevant type material — not even that of P. victori itself — and offered no evidence against the morphometric diagnosis of Gabriel & Sherwood (2020). The Guatemalan female they compared it with came from Izabal, ~700 km from the type locality of P. victori with no records in between, and no spermathecal morphometrics were taken from it. An emended diagnosis separates the two on receptacle width, curvature and the morphometric ratios BRV 63% / LRV 26%.