fauna

The Gooty Sapphire (Poecilotheria metallica)

… is a brilliant blue giant tarantula endemic to a single location in Andhra Pradesh, India. This species is critically endangered. Major threats include habitat degradation due to lopping for firewood and cutting for timber as well as collecting of specimens for the international pet trade.

Learn more about this spider on EOL: http://eol.org/pages/1182255/details

(Image by JC Schou via Biopix)

Apr 02

New Giant Tarantula Discovered in Sri Lanka

by Nadia Drake

A new type of tarantula about the size of your face has been found in northern Sri Lanka. Scientists found the spiders — with a leg span up to 8 inches across — living in trees and the old doctor’s quarters of a hospital in Mankulam.

Covered in beautiful, ornate markings, the spiders belong to the genus Poecilotheria, known as “Pokies” for short. These are the tiger spiders, an arboreal group indigenous to India and Sri Lanka that are known for being colorful, fast, and venomous. As a group, the spiders are related to a class of South American tarantula that includes the Goliath bird-eater, the world’s largest.

The new spider, named Poecilotheria rajaei after a local police inspector who helped the team navigate post-civil war northern Sri Lanka, differs from similar species primarily in the markings on its legs and underside, which bears a pink abdominal band…

(read more: Wired Science) (photos: Ranil Nanayakkara)

Nov 26

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A new genus of the family Theraphosidae (Araneae: Mygalomorphae) with description of three new species from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India [2012]

In this paper, a new genus Neoheterophrictus gen. nov., with three new species, Neoheterophrictus crurofulvus sp. nov., N. sahyadri sp. nov. and N.uttarakannada sp. nov., is described from Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka, India. The new genus is close to Heterophrictus Pocock, 1900 and Plesiophrictus Pocock, 1899 but has multilobed spermathecae, which was consistent in all the three species and the males possessing double tibial spur. Natural history information for all the species described is provided.

Siliwal, M., N. Gupta & R. Raven (2012). Journal of Threatened Taxa. 4(14): 3233–3254

(via: NovaTaxa)

Nov 01

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)

Aug 25

Spider ID: What do you reckon this is called?

If geography matters, I saw it in northern Mexico.

Paxon:

okay so… this is a tarantula of the genus Aphonopelma, but this genus is not well studied or understood, especially in northern Mexico. There is actualy much disagreement on speciation within this genus. It looks alot like a a male A. moderatum, which occurs in northern Mexico, but its hard to tell from a small picture. Even in hand, it really takes an expert and a good hand lens sometimes :/

Jul 09

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amnhnyc: Spiders at NY’s American Museum of Natural History

This Gooty sapphire spider (Poecilotheria metallica) is one of the many live spiders that will be on view in our upcoming exhibition Spider’s Alive!.

(Photo by Rod)

(Reblogged from amnhnyc)

May 26

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Newly Discovered Species: Blue Tarantula

Breathtakingly beautiful, this iridescent hairy blue tarantula is the first new animal species from Brazil to be named in awhile. Pterinopelma sazimai is not the first or only blue tarantula but truly spectacular and from “island” ecosystems on flattop mountains.

(via: Live Science) (photo: Rogério Bertani/ Instituto Butantan)

Apr 06

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compendium-of-beasts: [Tarantula catching a bird.] (1885)

via NYPL

(Reblogged from scientificillustration)

Mar 30

Rameshwaram Parachute Spider (Poecilotheria hanumavilasumica)

ENDANGERED

by National Geo staff

Restricted to a handful of plantations on the island of Rameshwaram (in Tamil Nadu) and the nearby mainland of India, the Rameshwaram parachute spider is a critically endangered tarantula on the 2008 Red List of Threatened Species. The spider likely numbers fewer than 500 individuals, as its woodland habitat is being destroyed as plantations are converted into tourist destinations.

(via: National Geo) (image: M. Siliwal/IUCN )

* Additional info: … they occur in an area of less than 100 sq kms, of which only six sq kms are actually occupied by the species. The Rameshwaram Parachute Spider lives in mixed deciduous woodlands and palm, casuarina and tamarind plantations. Its habitat has been destroyed almost completely. An area that was known to have 70 such spiders was razed to construct tourism resorts and the like, thereby annihilating that population. Tarantulas are traditionally much sought after in the pet trade, but this spider is traded in limited numbers — but even that is reducing its already precarious population… (via Tehelka, by Prerna Singh Bindra)

Mar 28

Venezuelan Suntiger Tarantula (Psalmopoeus irminia)

- family Theraphosidae. arboreal, leg-spread to just above 6 inches, fast moving, known to be defensive to aggressive, strongly venomous.

(photo: Phong)

Mar 27

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giraffe-in-a-tree:

Tarantula Feeding (on another spider)

Photograph by Paul Zahl

The tarantula’s appearance is worse than its bite. Tarantula venom is weaker than that of a honeybee and, though painful, is virtually harmless to humans.

There are species of tarantulas that have very serious bites, but this does hold true for most species.

(Reblogged from giraffeinatree)

Mar 10

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Blue Fang Skeleton Tarantula (Ephebopus cyanognathus)

Discovered in French Guiana in 2000, the bluefang tarantula has a taste for birds. In addition to arachnids, about 50,000 insect species can be found in any square mile (2.5 square km) of the Amazon rain forest, according to WWF.

(via: National Geo) (Photo: Keegan Rowlinson, WWF)

Feb 22

Tarantula ID

Can you help me out with this one? He was found near Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri…but I can tell you this isnt one of our Missouri tarantulas. In fact, he looks South American and possibly was someone’s let they let go. Can you ID him for me? He’s positively lovely and I have no idea what he’s doing in my friends driveway!

Paxon:

I know it may be difficult to believe, but this is indeed the native Missouri Tarantula (Aphonopelma hentzi) aka Texas Brown Tarantula. It’s just a really large female. Males tend to move around alot more, so we tend to see the smaller males more often. Here’s a really excellent webpage about them in MO by the MDC…

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/missouri-tarantula