Tarantula

family of arachnids

Tarantulas are a group of "hairy" and often very large spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae. Approximately 900 species have been found. Some tarantulas hunt prey in trees and some hunt on the ground. All tarantulas can make silk. They use silk to make shelters like tube tents in trees, to line burrows if they live on the ground, and they all use silk to wrap up prey before they eat it. It is easy to see a tarantula turning around and around in one spot with the prey in its mouth, but it is hard to see the silk coming out because it is small in diameter (thickness) and transparent. These spiders are found in warmer regions around the world. Tarantulas' predators are normally big snakes or creatures such as the Tarantula Eating Wasp. Defenses are camouflage and fangs.

Tarantulas
Brachypelma smithi
Scientific classification
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Theraphosidae

Thorell, 1870
Subfamilies

Acanthopelminae
Aviculariinae
Eumenophorinae
Harpactirinae
Ischnocolinae
Ornithoctoninae
Poecilotheriinae
Selenocosmiinae
Selenogyrinae
Spelopelminae
Stromatopelminae
Theraphosinae
Thrigmopoeinae

Diversity
113 genera, 897 species

References change

  • S. B. Reichling & R. C. West (1996). "A new genus and species of theraphosid spider from Belize (Araneae, Theraphosidae)" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 24: 254–261. no
  • R. R. Raven (2005). "A new tarantula species from northern Australia (Araneae, Theraphosidae)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1004: 15–28. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1004.1.2. no

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