Etymology: The species name is noun in apposition for the district name Uttara Kannada (North Canara District), from where the type specimens were collected.
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.
