The known distribution range of Poecilotheria striata Pocock, 1895 in India is from Mysuru in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. During the recent surveys in northern Karnataka, P. striata was recorded from six locations in Dandeli and nearby areas in the Uttara Kannada District. With the new records from Uttara Kannada, the distribution range of this species extends to the northern part of the Western Ghats by ca. 400km from Mysuru. Additional records on distribution of P. striata are also provided from various surveys carried out in the last 10 years. Based on these new records, the IUCN Red List status of P. striata is recommended to be reassessed as Near Threatened. Additional information on the morphology and natural history of P. striata is provided in the paper.
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Journal of Threatened Taxa 5: 4630-4640
The subfamily Ischnocolinae of the family Theraphosidae is a generic complex and Raven (1985) considered all genera (including the only Indian genus Plesiophrictus Pocock, 1899) as incertae sedis. These genera require re-examination of the type specimens along with examination of new collections from the type locality to revalidate their taxonomic position under Ischnocolinae. Recently, Guadanucci (2011) revalidated the genus Heterophrictus Pocock, 1900 and removed it from the junior synonym of Plesiophrictus; he also provided distinct generic characters for Heterophrictus and Plesiophrictus, which are helpful in the revision of Indian Plesiophrictus. Though the taxonomic position of Heterophrictus is still confusing in the absence of cladistic analysis (R. Raven pers. comm. 7 February 2012), in this paper, we consider Heterophrictus a valid genus until further cladistic analysis (based on more specimens) is published.
Journal of Threatened Taxa 4: 3233-3254