Colorful Tree-Climbing Tarantulas Found in Brazil
by LiveScience staff
A scientist has discovered nine new species of colorful tree-climbing tarantulas in central and eastern Brazil, including four belonging to a mysterious, old genus and others that are quite picky about which plants to choose as homes.
“Instead of the seven species formerly known in the region, we now have sixteen,” Rogério Bertanim, a researcher at Brazil’s Instituto Butantan, said in a statement.
So-called arboreal tarantulas previously have been identified in a few tropical places in Asia, Africa, South and Central America and the Caribbean. (The Amazon is their core habitat). These tarantulas have a light, agile build and pads at the end of their legs that make them better equipped to climb over the smooth surfaces of tree branches and plant leaves…
(read more: Live Science)
(images by Rogerio Bertani: T - Typhochlaena amma; BL - Typhochlaena costae; BR - Iridopelma katiae)
