Romopelma chirapa Dupérré & Tapia, 2026

Described by Nadine Dupérré, Elicio Tapia

♀ Female described ♂ Male described

Live specimen © Dupérré, Tapia & Salazar-Valenzuela (2026, fig. 15) — living female ECFN 12569

Type Locality and Records

Type locality

Original Description

Dupérré, N., Tapia, E. & Salazar-Valenzuela, D. (2026). New Theraphosinae from Ecuador: description of five species (Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae, Romopelma, and Homoeomma) with the establishment of a new genus. Evolutionary Systematics 10: 217-261.

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Distribution

Ecuador

Type Locality: ECUADOR: Cotopaxi Province, OTONGA Biological Reserve, 1888 m

Adult Male Activity

Collection months of 2 adult male specimen records, against the rainfall where they live

Adult males collected

Mean monthly rainfall and temperature 2001–2020 near where these males were collected, Ecuador. MERRA-2 via NASA POWER, for a grid cell averaging 2364 m. Wet and dry seasons, from the rainfall at the locality itself.

Etymology

A noun in apposition from Kichwa, meaning "light rain with sun", for the habitat of the species.

Specimen Records (3)

ECFN 12567 ♂ Holotype Ecuador

OTONGA Biological Reserve, 1888 m, Cotopaxi

May 2014 · col. E. Tapia, C. Tapia & N. Dupérré

Holotype male of Romopelma chirapa, pitfall trap set 25 May to 8 June 2014 (QCAZ).

ECFN 903 ♀ Paratype Ecuador

OTONGA Biological Reserve, 1728 m, Cotopaxi

November 2015 · col. E. Tapia

Paratype female of Romopelma chirapa, hand collected (ZMH-A0002994).

ECFN 3869 ♂ Paratype Ecuador

OTONGA Biological Reserve, 1997 m, Cotopaxi

November 2019 · col. E. Tapia

Paratype male of Romopelma chirapa, pitfall trap (ZMH-A00329489).

Taxonomic History

2026
Romopelma chirapa Dupérré & Tapia, 2026 — the second species of Romopelma, a genus erected by Peñaherrera-R. et al. in 2024.
All the type material comes from the OTONGA Biological Reserve in Cotopaxi, between 1,728 and 1,997 m, most of it from pitfall traps.

Bibliography (1)

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