Lyrognathus

Lyrognathus is a small genus of Old World tarantulas from South and Southeast Asia, first described by British arachnologist Reginald Innes Pocock in 1895. He based the genus on the species Lyrognathus crotalus from India, which is still the type species today.

Over the next century, a few more species were added, including L. saltator from India and L. robustus from Malaysia. Some names were later cleaned up: for example, Lyrognathus pugnax and L. liewi are now considered synonyms of L. crotalus and L. robustus, respectively, simplifying the genus.

A major modern revision came in 2010, when West & Nunn reviewed the genus and described three new species from Borneo and Lombok: L. achilles, L. fuscus and L. lessunda. In 2013, L. giannisposatoi was described from Sumatra, bringing the genus to seven currently accepted species, all burrowing tarantulas living in forested habitats across India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Lyrognathus species belong to the subfamily Selenocosmiinae and are typically dark, robust, fossorial spiders that construct deep burrows in clay or loamy soils. They’re rarely seen in the open, which makes them fascinating but often secretive species in both the wild and captivity.