This genus was erected by Eugène Simon in 1888 with Trichopelma illetabile and the type speciesTrichopelma nitidum.[2] A major review of mygalomorph spiders by Robert J. Raven in 1985 led to the genus being greatly enlarged, merging it with other genera Hapalopinus, Leptofischelia, Merothele, Obaerarius and Stothis. Raven placed this expanded genus in the family Barychelidae.[3] In 1994, he proposed moving Trichopelma to the related family Theraphosidae, but without any new evidence, the move was not generally accepted. In 2014 José P. L. Guadanucci carried out a morphological phylogenetic analysis of some mygalomorph genera, including Trichopelma. The study supported Raven's hypothesis, and the genus was moved to Theraphosidae as a member of a re-limited subfamily Ischnocolinaesensu stricto.[4]
Species
As of November 2024[update] it contains 23 species:[1]
^ abcGloor, Daniel; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Blick, Theo; Kropf, Christian (2019). "Gen. Trichopelma Simon, 1888". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
^ abSimon, E. (1888). "Etudes arachnologiques". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 8 (6): 203–216.
^Raven, R.J. (1985). "The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): Cladistics and systematics". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 182: 1–180. hdl:2246/955.
^Guadanucci, J.P.L. (2014). "Theraphosidae phylogeny: relationships of the 'Ischnocolinae' genera (Araneae, Mygalomorphae)". Zoologica Scripta. 43 (5): 508–518. doi:10.1111/zsc.12065. S2CID86484123.
^ Ortiz, D., & Fonseca, E. (2024). A hairy giant among dwarves: Trichopelma grande, a distinct new species of tarantula from Cuba (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Journal of Natural History, 58(45–48), 2189–2205. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2024.2401921