Despite their fearsome appearance, these tarantulas are not harmful to humans and some species are popular in the pet trade.

However, their taxonomy is poorly understood and species are difficult to tell apart, especially those that are brown or black without other pattern.

Two more new genera were later distinguished from Aphonopelma: Delopelma by Alexander Petrunkevitch in 1939 and Chaunopelma by Joseph C. Chamberlin in 1940.

In 1995, Smith erected the genus Apachepelma for the species A. paloma; in 1997, Prentice transferred it back to Aphonopelma.

Only 15 of the original 55 U.S. species were fully accepted, 33 were reduced to synonyms, and seven to nomina dubia (doubtful names).