Orphnaecus adamsoni Salamanes, Santos, Austria & Villancio, 2022

Described by Julius John Salamanes, Jhayson Mark J. Santos, Eleanor S. Austria, Gil Gabriel Villancio

♀ Female described ♂ Male described

Male

Male

Type Locality and Records

Type locality

Original Description

Salamanes, J. J., Santos, J. M. J., Austria, E. S. & Villancio, G. G. (2022). A new species of tarantula of the genus Orphnaecus Simon, 1892 (Araneae: Theraphosidae) from the Province of Dinagat Islands, Philippines. Biodiversitas 23(8): 4283-4288.

Distribution

Philippines

Type Locality: PHILIPPINES, Province of Dinagat Islands, Municipality of Loreto, Mt. Magkuno

Etymology

The specific epithet is so named in honor of the institution where the researchers are affiliated.

Taxonomic History

Acuña, Ragasa, Santiago-Bautista, von Wirth & Guevarra (2025) examined the allotype/paratype female PNM 14888 and consider it misidentified and misplaced in Orphnaecus: it shows a plumose setal field on the retrolateral chelicerae, rows of thorn stridulatory setae on the prolateral maxilla, and conspicuous white leg bands and dorsal abdominal stripes - characters absent in Selenocosmiinae but synapomorphic for Ornithoctoninae. They suggest it probably represents an undescribed Melognathus species, but decline to name a new taxon given the specimen's poor condition, and report that repeated enquiries to the first author of the original description went unanswered. Sumogat, Acuña & Nuñeza (2025) follow this assessment and call for the female of O. adamsoni to be redescribed from other paratypes.

Bibliography (4)

Salamanes, J. J., Santos, J. M. J., Austria, E. S. & Villancio, G. G. (2022). A new species of tarantula of the genus Orphnaecus Simon, 1892 (Araneae: Theraphosidae) from the Province of Dinagat Islands, Philippines. Biodiversitas 23(8): 4283-4288.

Acuña, D. C., Dumbrique, M. M. U., Ranido, M. C., Ragasa, L. R. P., Noriega, C. N. C., Mayor, A. B. R., Florendo Jr, G. A., Fadri, M. J. A., von Wirth, V., Santiago-Bautista, M. R. & Guevarra Jr, L. A. (2025). Taxonomic revalidation of Selenobrachys Schmidt, 1999 and Chilocosmia Schmidt & von Wirth, 1992 based on morphological and molecular analyses (Araneae, Theraphosidae), with the description of a new species from Romblon Island, Philippines. ZooKeys 1233: 139-193.

Sumogat, J. J., Acuña, D. C. & Nuñeza, O. M. (2025). A new tarantula species of the genus Orphnaecus Simon, 1892 (Araneae: Theraphosidae) from Mindanao Island, Philippines. Far Eastern Entomologist 522: 8-21.

Acuña, D. C., Ragasa, L. R. P., Santiago-Bautista, M. R., von Wirth, V. & Guevarra Jr, L. A. (2025). Revisiting and rediscovering the tarantulas (Araneae, Theraphosidae) of Culapnitan (Libmanan) Caves in the Philippines: troglomorphism, taxonomy, phylogeny and ecological niche. Subterranean Biology 52: 143-186.