Pterinopelma longisternale (Bertani, 2001)
♀ Female described ♂ Male described
Female © Moeller et al. (2025, fig. 5B) — female CAD 1236Type Locality and Records
Type locality
Original Description
Distribution
Type Locality: Holotype. Male, IBSP 6772, Candoi, Parana, Brazil, IV/1995, Faunal Rescue Team of Hydroelectric Power Station of Segredo/deriva9ao do Rio Jordiio, col.
Etymology
The specific name refers to the very long sternum of this species.
Specimen Records (2)
LZI 367 ♀ Argentina
LZI 368 ♀ Argentina
Genitalia
Taxonomic History
- 2025 Moeller, Galleti-Lima & Guadanucci (2025) tested the character this species is named for. Landmark-based geometric morphometrics show that sternum shape varies continuously between it and P. roseum, so "long sternum" cannot stand alone as a diagnosis; the two are nonetheless separable on the length-to-width ratio, 1.42 ± 0.11 here against 1.17 ± 0.07 in P. roseum. The authors recommend the ratio be treated as a complementary character and used in phylogenetic matrices as a continuous one.
- They also found the sternum to be allometric in females but not males — probably because female theraphosids keep growing after maturity — and advise against separating the two species on spermathecal shape or the ventral femoral setae, both of which they consider doubtful. For males, the tibial apophysis branches and the palpal bulb subapical keel are the more reliable characters.