Aphonopelma chalcodes
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Aphonopelma chalcodes , female |
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| Chamberlin , 1940 |
Aphonopelma chalcodes (English Arizona blond tarantula ) is a North American tarantula species. The distribution area extends in the Sonoran Desert ( southern California over the south of New Mexico to Arizona to Mexico ). It occurs mainly in desert regions where the Carnegiea gigantea cactus also grows. It is often seen during the rainy season of the summer months. It coexists with similar species in its range.
features
It becomes ten centimeters long. The legs and carapace of the female are light brown to beige . The abdomen is dark brown, but has longer light brown hair and stinging hair. The carapace is arched upwards. The chelicerae are strong and the shorter legs make the spider look very compact. This body shape suits the burrowing spider.
There is a sexual dimorphism in this species of spider . In contrast to the females, the males have black legs and a reddish abdomen and a copper-colored cephalothorax . Males are usually shorter in length than females, but their legs are proportionally longer.
behavior
The spider belongs to the terrestrial species. It digs holes up to 60 centimeters long with circular entrances about 2.5 to 5 centimeters in diameter in the ground and lines them with spider silk to take care of the brood and moult there. Adult females usually spend the rest of their lives in their den and feed on prey that pass near the den. Younger animals and males roam the ground in the warmer season and find shelter under stones, roots, pieces of bark and fallen leaves.
They are nocturnal hunters. To catch prey, they never went far from their living tube. Only at the mating season do the males move away from their shelter and move about. The males become adult at ten to twelve years. They are looking for a bride in the months from August to October. It happens that mating does not occur, but that the male is eaten by the female . A cocoon contains up to 300 eggs. The incubation period is six weeks.
In the winter months, the animals retreat to their shelter and close it with earth, stones and spider silk. They remain very inactive during these months.
The behavior is assessed differently. Some authors claim that the spider is irritable and quickly defends itself against supposed attackers and is also not afraid to bite. Others emphasize their calm behavior and that the spider behaves differently than is often attributed to it.
habitat
The Sonoran Desert is a hilly semi-desert with short and dry grasses and some larger plants such as columnar cacti , agaves , prosopis and a few conifers and deciduous trees. The grasses serve the spider to camouflage their shelter.
In the Sonoran Desert it gets very hot in the summer months (up to 47 ° C). The average temperature is between 28 and 35 ° C. At night the temperatures sometimes drop to freezing point. In the areas it rains very little (on average 35 days a year) and the air is on average very dry.
Keeping in the terrarium
Aphonopelma chalcodes are considered to have a long shelf life in terrariums and need the opportunity to dig. Nothing is known about successful breeding. They were imported from the USA from the 1980s to 1991 and sold very cheaply (one dollar each), after which they were no longer widely available in specialist shops.
Web links
literature
- WJ Baerg (1958): The Tarantula . University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas.
- Peter Klaas (2003): Tarantulas: Origin, Care, Species . Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-8001-3696-1
- Andreas Tinter (2001): Tarantulas. Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Hamburg, ISBN 3-933203-49-X
- Günther Schmidt (1993): tarantulas, way of life - identification key - husbandry - breeding . Landbuch Verlag, Hannover, pp. 77-82, ISBN 3-7842-0484-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Datasheet from Southwest Wildlife ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Peter Klaas: Vogelspinnen im Terrarium , Eugen Ulmer & Co., Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-8001-7933-4 , pp. 77-79
- ↑ a b c d e Hans-Josef Peters: Tarantulas of the world / Amerika's Vogelspinnen . Self-published, Wegberg 2003, ISBN 3-9334-4306-7 , pp. 45-46
- ^ Günter Schmidt : Die Vogelspinnen , Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hohenwarsleben 2003, ISBN 3-89432-899-1 , p. 167
