The genus
Macrothele was erected by
Anton Ausserer in 1871, with the
type species being
Macrothele calpeiana, formerly
Mygale calpeiana. Ausserer placed the genus in the then very broadly defined family
Theraphosidae. It was later placed in the
Dipluridae and the
Hexathelidae before being transferred to the Macrothelidae in 2018. A
molecular phylogenetic study in 2018 suggested that
Macrothele was a distinct, early diverging lineage within the Mygalomorphae. Accordingly, Simon's subfamily Macrothelinae was elevated to the family Macrothelidae. There is some doubt if the western and eastern species should be grouped in the same genus. The following
cladogram shows the possible relationship of
Macrothele to related taxa: }}
Species , this genus includes nineteen species and one subspecies: •
Macrothele arcuata Tang, Zhao & Yang, 2020 –
China •
Macrothele auriculata Zhang, Wu, Zhao & Yang, 2024 – China •
Macrothele calpeiana (
Walckenaer, 1805) –
Portugal,
Spain,
Morocco,
Algeria •
Macrothele camerunensis Simon, 1903 –
Cameroon,
Equatorial Guinea •
Macrothele cangshanensis Z. B. Yang, Zhao, Zhang & Z. Z. Yang, 2018 – China •
Macrothele cretica Kulczyński, 1903 –
Greece (Crete) •
Macrothele decemnotata Simon, 1909 –
Vietnam •
Macrothele drolshageni Özkütük, Elverici, Yağmur & Kunt, 2019 –
Turkey •
Macrothele indicola (
Tikader, 1969) –
India •
Macrothele maculata (
Thorell, 1890) –
Myanmar,
Indonesia (Sumatra, Java) •
M. m. annamensis Hogg, 1922 – Vietnam •
Macrothele multispine Wang, Li & Yang, 2019 – China •
Macrothele nullispine Zhang, Wu, Zhao & Yang, 2024 – China •
Macrothele proserpina Simon, 1909 – Vietnam •
Macrothele segmentata Simon, 1892 –
Malaysia •
Macrothele simplicata (Saito, 1933) –
Taiwan •
Macrothele triangularis Benoit, 1965 –
DR Congo •
Macrothele vidua Simon, 1906 – India •
Macrothele yongshengensis Z. B. Yang, Zhao & Z. Z. Yang, 2019 – China •
Macrothele yunlingensis Z. B. Yang, Zhao & Z. Z. Yang, 2019 – China Several species were moved to new genera: •
Bannathele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 –
China •
Gigathele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China,
Japan,
Taiwan •
Microthele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China •
Orientothele Mirza, Sanap & Kunte, 2017 – China,
India •
Spinathele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China, Taiwan,
Laos •
Vacrothele Tang & Yang, 2022 – China, Japan, Taiwan,
Hong Kong ==See also==