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Scientific Name: Apholonopelma chalcodes
Common Name: Tarantula
Spanish Name: Tarántula
Tarantulas
Author: Ray Bowers
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Scientific Name: Apholonopelma chalcodes |
Description:
Tarantulas have large bodies and stout legs. Tarantulas are large hairy
spiders. The male's body is from 2 to 2½ long and the female's body is from 2 to 2¾ inches long. The hairs
are brown to reddish-brown and cover a hard outer structure called the exoskeleton.
The body is divided into parts (segmented) like an insect's but it only has two parts (head and thorax) and
an abdomen (an insect has three parts, a head, thorax and abdomen). The cephalothorax (the thorax and the
head) is where you will find eyes, mouthparts and the four pair of legs that are characteristic of all
spiders. The abdomen has the reproductive structures, spiracles (breathing holes or tubes), the anus and
the spinnerets (these are used to spin silk). The large, powerful mouthparts move side to side rather than
up and down (like a human's). The venom of the tarantulas in the United States is not very poisonous, and a
tarantula's bite (which are very rare) feels much like a bee sting.
Geographic range:
Tarantulas are found in the warmer areas of the world and are
mostly found in tropical areas. In North America they are found in Southwestern United States and in
Mexico.
They have been found in the Sonora and the Chihuahan deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and California.
Habitat:
In the United States, tarantulas are found in a variety of desert habitats
such as shrub lands, grasslands and arroyos. During the day they can be found in natural cavities or
abandoned rodent burrows.
Food Web:
Tarantulas are carnivores that will feed on anything small enough to be
captured including reptiles and rodents. Tarantulas ambush their prey and inject venom with their
mouthparts (chelicerae), which act like fangs. Tarantulas are prey to larger creatures, including coyotes,
bobcats, and foxes. They are also the primary prey of the smaller Tarantula Hawk Wasp.
Reproduction and Development:
Tarantulas reach maturity after several years. The
males usually do not survive past the first year of maturity, but the female may live for twenty years.
Once the male has reached this point they abandon their home and wander about on warm summer nights,
especially after rain looking for females. When a female is found the male holds her fangs to avoid being
attacked during mating. After mating the male quickly moves away. The female then lays the eggs on a sheet
of silk and then forms a silk cocoon around the eggs. This cocoon is kept in the burrow with the female.
After hatching the young spiders disperse .
Behavior:
Tarantulas are nocturnal predators (they hunt at night). Lines of silk
extend from the burrow or hiding place; when a prey organism makes contact with the threads the tarantula
will attack. Tarantulas have two defense techniques: for predators that are the same size or smaller such
as The Tarantula Hawk Wasp they will attack them as prey, for larger predators they discourage them by
removing and flicking the irritating barbed hairs on their abdomen with their back legs. An animal that
attempts to eat the tarantula may get a faceful of the hairs, which will cause their eyes to water, their
nose to itch, their lips and tongue to become irritated, and they will have difficulty breathing.
Ecosystem roles:
Tarantulas feed on arthropods, which include insects, other spiders,
scorpions and centipedes. Tarantulas especially like to eat insects, so tarantulas play an important role
in controlling insect populations. They are the source of food for the developing larva of some wasps such
as the tarantula hawk wasp.
Cool Facts:
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Aranaeae
Family: Theraphosidae
Genus: Aphonopelma
Species: Aphonopelma chalcodes
References:
Borror, Donald J. and Richard E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the
Insects of America North of Mexico. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Barnes, Robert D. 1980. Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co.
Borror, Donald J., Charles A. Triplehorn, and Norman F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of
Insects. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co.
Kaston, B. J.1978. How to Know Spiders. Dubuque,Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co.
Larson, Peggy and Lane Larson. 1977. The Deserts of the Southwest. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Levi, Herbert W. and Lorna R. Levi. 1987. Spiders and Their Kin. Racine, Wisconsin: Golden Press.
MacMahon. James A.1985. Deserts. New York: Alfred A Knopf, Inc.
New Mexico Game & Fish. 2000. Tarantula Aphonopelma chalcodes.
Biota Information System of New Mexico.
www.fw.vt.edu/fishex/nmex_main/species/300130.htm
Werner, Floyd and Carl Olson. 1994. Insects of the Southwest. Fisher Books, LLC.
Related Terms: apholonopelma chalcodes, tarántula