Macrothele
| Macrothele | |
|---|---|
| Threatening female Macrothele gigas | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: | Macrothelidae |
| Genus: | Macrothele Ausserer, 1871 |
| Type species | |
| M. calpeiana (Walckenaer, 1805) | |
| Species | |
|
42, see text | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Macrothele is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Macrothelidae, and was first described by A. Ausserer in 1871. Most of the species in the genus occur in Asia, from India to Japan, and Java, with five found in Africa, and two in Europe. The name is derived from Ancient Greek μακρός ("makro-"), meaning "big", and θηλή ("thele"), referring to the spinnerets.