Antikuna Kaderka, Ferretti, West, Luddecke & Husser 2021, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Kaderka, Radan
name: Ferretti, Nelson
name: Hüsser, Martin
name: Lüddecke, Tim
name: West, Rick
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Theraphosidae
Antikuna

description: Genus Antikuna Kaderka, Ferretti, West, Lüddecke & Hüsser, gen. nov.   
 Type species: Antikuna cernickai sp. nov.   
 Etymology: The generic name means ‘Andes’ in Quechua language and refers to the distribution area of this new genus in Peru. The name is of feminine gender.   
 Generic diagnosis: Antikuna gen. nov. differs from all other theraphosid genera in the presence of type III urticating setae concentrated in one dorsal patch, ventral maxillae with short spiniform setae in distal half, the male bulb carrying four keels (PS, PI, A, SA) and the female spermathecae consisting of two separate divergent seminal receptacles, ventrally with keel or keels, dorsally with oval apical lobe, which is narrower than receptacle neck. Leg pattern in males: I>IV>II>III.   
 Affinities: Antikuna gen. nov. resembles the geographically related genera of Bistriopelma Kaderka, 2015, Hapalotremus Simon, 1903, Homoeomma Ausserer, 1871 and Thrixopelma; Schmidt, 1994 in having abdominal urticating setae of type III. It differs from Bistriopelma in the presence of only one patch of urticating setae (two lateral patches in Bistriopelma), the presence of A and SA keel terminating in a short tooth in males and two separate seminal receptacles, each without apical oval lobes carrying ventral projections but with longitudinal keels on ventral side. It differs from Hapalotremus in the shape of spermathecae (bipartite in Antikuna gen. nov., unipartite in Hapalotremus), and in the different morphology of male palpal bulb (tegulum welldeveloped and apical portion of embolus curved retrolaterally in Antikuna gen. nov., less developed tegulum and embolus distally straight in Hapalotremus). Antikuna gen. nov. also differs from Homoeomma in the absence of tegular apophysis of palpal bulb and a basal nodule on metatarsi I of males, and the presence of A and SA keel terminating in a short tooth in male palpal bulbs, and also from Thrixopelma in the shape of separate seminal receptacles, which are long and flat in Antikuna gen. nov. and short and hypertrophied in Thrixopelma.   
 Distribution: Central Peru, the Andean region (Figure 49), the Peruvian Departments of Junín, Huancavelica and Ayacucho, in the altitudes between 3,836 and 4,689 m a.s.l. Some of the highest elevation recorded for Theraphosidae inhabiting above 4,000 m a.s.l. are those from the genera Bistriopelma Kaderka, 2015 and Hapalotremus Simon, 1903, also distributed in Peru (World spider catalog 2021). The highest altitude record for the family was reported for Hapalotremus vilcanota Ferretti, Cavallo, Chaparro, Ríos-Tamayo, Seimon & West, 2018 living at 4,524 m a.s.l. (Ferretti et al. 2018). Here, we present a new high altitude record for the family Theraphosidae, living up to 4,689 m a.s.l.
description: Published as part of Kaderka, Radan, Ferretti, Nelson, Hüsser, Martin, Lüddecke, Tim & West, Rick, 2021, Antikuna, a new genus with seven new species from Peru (Araneae: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae) and the highest altitude record for the family, pp. 1335-1402 in Journal of Natural History 55 (21 - 22) on page 1338, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2021.1936680, http://zenodo.org/record/5469077