Macrothele is a genus of mygalomorph

Mygalomorphae

The Mygalomorphae, , are an infraorder of spiders. The latter name comes from the orientation of the fangs which point straight down and do not cross each other .-Description:...

 spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s.

Most species occur in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

, with four found in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, and two in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Description

Spiders of this genus are fairly large, with Chinese species ranging from one to three centimeters in female body length. Males are smaller, sometimes only half the size.

These spiders build tube-webs or funnel-webs under rocks, logs or crevices in the ground.

Distribution

Macrothele ranges from the western Mediterranean and West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

 to Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. However, there is some doubt if the western and eastern species should be grouped in the same genus.

Name

The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 makro "big" and thele, which refers to the spinnerets.

Species

500 x 333 - 139k - farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/2348718080_0eb53...

• Macrothele abrupta Benoit, 1965 — Congo
• Macrothele amamiensis Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 — Ryukyu Islands
• Macrothele bannaensis Xu & Yin, 2001 — China
• Macrothele calpeiana
  Macrothele calpeiana
  Macrothele calpeiana, the Spanish Funnel-web Spider, is one of the largest and most fierce-looking spiders in Europe. The satin black colour and long flexible spinnerets are unmistakable. The carapace is low and flat and the eyes are in a compact group. The female resembles the male but has a...
  
  (Walckenaer, 1805) — Spain, North Africa
• Macrothele camerunensis Simon, 1903 — Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
• Macrothele cretica
  Macrothele cretica
  Macrothele cretica is a species of spider in the Hexathelidae family. It is endemic to Greece.-Source:* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. . Downloaded on 31 July 2007....
  
  Kulczynski, 1903 — Crete
• Macrothele decemnotata Simon, 1909 — Vietnam
• Macrothele gigas Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 — Ryukyu Islands
• Macrothele guizhouensis Hu & Li, 1986 — China
• Macrothele holsti Pocock, 1901 — Taiwan
• Macrothele hunanica Zhu & Song, 2000 — China
• Macrothele incisa Benoit, 1965 — Congo
• Macrothele maculata (Thorell, 1890) — Myanmar, Sumatra, Java
  • Macrothele maculata annamensis Hogg, 1922 — Vietnam
• Macrothele monocirculata Xu & Yin, 2000 — China
• Macrothele palpator Pocock, 1901 — China, Hong Kong
• Macrothele proserpina Simon, 1909 — Vietnam
• Macrothele raveni Zhu, Li & Song, 2000 — China
• Macrothele segmentata Simon, 1892 — Malaysia
• Macrothele simplicata (Saito, 1933) — Taiwan
• Macrothele taiwanensis Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 — Taiwan
• Macrothele triangularis Benoit, 1965 — Congo
• Macrothele variabiis Pavesi, 1898 — Java
• Macrothele vidua Simon, 1906 — India
• Macrothele yaginumai Shimojana & Haupt, 1998 — Ryukyu Islands
• Macrothele yani Xu, Yin & Griswold, 2002 — China
• Macrothele yunnanica Zhu & Song, 2000 — China