Fig 1.
Abdominal urticating setae of types I, II, III, IV, VI and VII with their supporting stalks, and palpal urticating setae of the type V with the insertion socket.
Table 1.
Distribution of urticating setae types according to the previously published papers or unpublished observations.
Fig 2.
Distribution of urticating setae types (grey zones) on the dorsal abdomen of particular Theraphosinae.
(A) Eupalaestrus larae, female from Argentina. (B) Cyrtopholis sp., male from Cuba, Guantánamo. (C) Phormictopus auratus, female from Cuba, Holguín province. (D) Aphonopelma crinirufum, female from Costa Rica, Puntarenas. (E) Magulla obesa, male (according to [39]). (F) Phrixotrichus vulpinus, male from Chile. (G) Chromatopelma cyanopubescens, male from Venezuela. (H) Kochiana brunnipes, female. Abbreviations: III/IV = urticating setae of intermediate morphology between types III and IV; III-s = short type III setae, length 0.07–0.08. White circles represent the spots of sampling.
Table 2.
Length ranges of basic type I setae.
Table 3.
Length ranges of subtype Ia setae.
Table 4.
Length ranges of subtype Ib setae.
Fig 3.
Urticating setae of type I and its subtypes Ia, Ib, Ic, Id, Ie and If.
Cross sections (CS) 1–4: arrangement of barbs in cross-sections. The arrows show two rows of opposite reversed denticles on the apical end of section C1. Abbreviations: B = basal section; C1 = central section with well-developed reversed barbs (corresponds with “main barbs” according to Cooke et al. [6]); C2 = central section, which is bare or with two parallel longitudinal rows of short confluent reversed barbs or denticles; A = apical section.
Fig 4.
Urticating setae of Brachypelma smithi, immature male.
(A) Basic type I, basal section, connected to the dorsal abdominal surface by a supporting stalk and surrounded by other supporting stalks without urticating setae. Scale bar = 10 μm. (B) Basic type I, basal section with three rows of barbs. Scale bar = 5 μm. (C) Type I, subtypes Ic, midsection (below) and basal section (above) with basal barbs reduced in both number and size. Scale bar = 10 μm. (D) Type I, subtype Ic, basal section with strongly reduced basal barbs. Scale bar = 10 μm. (E) Basic type I, detail of the midsection with two parallel longitudinal rows of short, confluent reversed barbs in the left lower part of the figure. Scale bar = 5 μm.
Fig 5.
Urticating setae of type I and its subtypes Ib and Id.
(A) Aenigmarachne sinapophysis, male holotype. Type I, subtype Ib, basal section with barbs reduced both in number and size. (B) Aphonopelma seemanni, male. Type I, subtype Ib, midsection with three rows of reversed barbs. (C) Reversopelma petersi, male. Type I, distal end of the midsection (section C1) with a few pairs of non-reversed barbs. (D) Citharacanthus longipes, female. Type I, subtype Id, detail of the basal section and section C2. Scale bar = 10 μm.
Table 5.
Length ranges of subtype Ic setae.
Table 6.
Length ranges of subtype Id setae.
Fig 6.
Urticating setae of type I and its subtypes Ie and If.
(A) Metriopelma sp., female from Margarita Island, Venezuela. Type I, subtype Ie, midsection C1 with barbs reduced both in length and number, midsection C2 completely bare, smooth and thicker than in the subtype If. (B) Pseudhapalopus sp., male from Colombia. Type I, subtype If, with the midsection C2 narrow and flattened, with a rough surface. Section C2 represents a zone in which the seta breaks off. Scale bar = 20 μm.
Table 7.
Length ranges of subtype Ie setae.
Table 8.
Length ranges of subtype If setae.
juv. = juvenile specimen.
Fig 7.
(A) Avicularia sp., female from Beni province, Bolivia. Type II, basal section with a supporting stalk. Scale bar = 20 μm. (B) Caribena versicolor, juv. (car. 3.5). Type II, basal section. Scale bar = 2 μm. (C) Caribena versicolor, male. Type II, apical section. Scale bar = 10 μm. (D) Caribena versicolor, juv. (car. 2.5). Type II, midsection. Basal part on the left. Scale bar = 5 μm. (E) Caribena versicolor, juv. (car. 3.5). Type II, apical section. The basic morphology of urticating setae in juveniles is identical to mature specimens, but the barbs are less developed. Scale bar = 10 μm. Abbreviations: juv. = juvenile specimen; car. = length of carapace.
Fig 8.
Urticating setae of type II in a female of Antillena rickwesti.
(A) Type II, basal section with a supporting stalk, the apical section is bare. (B) Seta of intermediate morphology between body setae and type II, basal section with a supporting stalk. The arrow shows a precursor of the basal tip. Scale bar = 10 μm.
Fig 9.
Urticating setae of type II and body seta of an immature female of Iridopelma hirsutum.
(A) Type II, detail of the midsection. Scale bar = 5 μm. (B) Body seta, detail of the midsection. Scale bar = 5 μm. (C) Type II, detail of the basal section with a supporting stalk. Scale bar = 10 μm.
Table 9.
Length ranges of type II setae, body setae and setae of intermediate morphology.
juv. = juvenile specimen. car. = length of carapace.
Fig 10.
Body setae of a female of Antillena rickwesti.
(A) Body seta. Scale bar = 50 μm. (B) Detail of the apical section. Scale bar = 10 μm. (C) Detail of the basal section with a supporting stalk. Scale bar = 10 μm.
Fig 11.
(A) Cyriocosmus perezmilesi, juv., a stage of the first nymph (according to Foelix [56]). Ontogenetic precursor of type III urticating setae, detail of the basal sections with non-reversed barbs. The arrangement of barbs in this stage is congruent with that of body setae presented by Bertani & Guadanucci [9]: Fig 25. Scale bar = 10 μm. (B) Hapalopus sp., juv. (car. 1.8), Lara State, Venezuela. Type III, supporting stalks in the basal sections marked by arrows. Scale bar = 5 μm. (C) Hapalopus sp., juv. (car. 1.8), Lara State, Venezuela. Type III urticating seta with unusually developed basal barbs, detail of the basal section. Scale bar = 5 μm. (D) Hapalotremus sp., a female from Peru. Type III, the apical (lower urticating seta) and the basal section (upper urticating seta). Scale bar = 20 μm. Abbreviations: juv. = juvenile specimen; car. = length of carapace.
Fig 12.
Urticating setae of type III and IV.
(A) Theraphosa blondi, female. Long seta of type III, basal section, total length 0.28–0.32. Scale bar = 20 μm. (B) Theraphosa blondi, female. Short seta of type III, total length 0.07–0.08. Scale bar = 20 μm. (C) Chromatopelma cyanopubescens, female. Type IV with reversed barbs in the basal section and reversed denticles in the apical section. Scale bar = 10 μm. (D) Chromatopelma cyanopubescens, female. Type IV, basal end, the arrow shows the connection to a supporting stalk, located between the last two basal barbs. Scale bar = 5 μm.
Table 10.
Length ranges of type III setae.
juv. = juvenile specimen. car. = length of carapace.
Table 11.
Length ranges of type IV setae.
Fig 13.
Palpal urticating setae of type V in an immature female of Ephebopus cyanognathus.
(A) Type V urticating setae connected with the palpal surface by insertion sockets. Scale bar = 10 μm. (B) Prolateral face of the right palp with a limited area of insertion sockets without urticating setae. Scale bar = 100 μm.
Table 12.
Length ranges of type V setae.
juv. = juvenile specimen.
Fig 14.
(A) Hemirrhagus papalotl, female. Type VI, two midsections with short, more confluent barbs, apical section with longer and more protruding barbs, basal section with a supporting stalk. Scale bar = 10 μm. (B) Hemirrhagus eros, female. Type VI, the basal section with a socket for supporting stalk. Scale bar = 5 μm. (C) Hemirrhagus papalotl, immature male. Type VI, detail of the basal section. Scale bar = 5 μm. (D) Hemirrhagus papalotl, immature male. Type VI, detail of the midsection. Scale bar = 5 μm. (E) Hemirrhagus papalotl, immature male. Type VI, detail of the apical section. Scale bar = 2 μm.
Fig 15.
Length ranges of urticating setae types and their subtypes.
Table 13.
Length ranges of type VI setae.
juv. = juvenile specimen. car. = length of carapace.
Table 14.
Distribution of urticating setae types in studied material.
Fig 16.
Ephebopus rufescens West & Marshall, 2000, male tibia I with prolateral (PL) and retrolateral (RL) tibial apophysis.
The arrow shows a third additional tibial apophysis at the base of the retrolateral apophysis. Leg segments without covering setae.
Fig 17.
Hypothesis of urticating setae evolution based on the modified cladogram by Pérez-Miles et al. [18] and the results presented by Bertani & Guadanucci [9].
Remarks: * Cyriocosmus possesses only type III setae instead of type IV. ** In Euathlus, type III setae occur together with type IV.
Fig 18.
Hypothesis of urticating setae evolution based on the modified cladogram by Perafán et al. [11].
Remarks: * In the data matrix, Cyriocosmus is mentioned without any type of urticating setae instead of the presence of type III setae. This could explain its basal position in the cladogram. ** Female syntype of Cyclosternum schmardae as generic type possesses type I setae. *** Phormictopus possesses urticating setae of types I and III.
Fig 19.
Hypothesis of urticating setae evolution based on the modified cladogram by Turner et al. [20].
Taxa with type I setae represent a monophyletic group.