 A major review of mygalomorph spiders by Robert J. Raven in 1985 led to the genus being greatly enlarged, merging it with other genera "Hapalopinus", "Leptofischelia", "Merothele", "Obaerarius" and "Stothis".Raven placed this expanded genus in the family Barychelidae.In 1994, he proposed moving "Trichopelma" to the related family Theraphosidae, but without any new evidence, the move was not generally accepted.