Striped Guatemala tarantula
| Striped Guatemala tarantula | ||||||||||||
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Striped Guatemala tarantula, female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aphonopelma seemanni | ||||||||||||
| ( FO Pickard-Cambridge , 1897) |
The striped Guatemala tarantula ( Aphonopelma seemanni ) is one of the burrowing tarantula species. Their area of distribution is presented differently in the literature: some authors limit it to Central America, others describe it as reaching from Costa Rica to Texas . The species is also kept in terraristics .
discovery
The German naturalist Berthold Carl Seemann collected two specimens of an unknown tarantula species during an expedition (1847) with the Herald of the British Admiralty in the Bay of Bahía Culebra in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica . It was a full-grown and a juvenile female. The animals were soaked in alcohol and taken to the British Museum . The specimens were later transferred to the Natural History Museum . The spiders were preserved untouched for many years until they were only described 50 years after their discovery by FOP-Cambridge as a new species of Eurypelma seemanni , named in honor of their discoverer.
In 1901 the species was placed in the newly created genus Aphonopelma by Reginald Innes Pocock . Aphonpelma seemanni served as a holotype for the whole genus.
Behavior and way of life
The animals are cultural followers and there are therefore many living tubes in the artificially irrigated meadows along roads and in the private gardens in their area of distribution. There they seem to have a good supply of food due to the number of insects, such as many grasshoppers . The animals found were therefore all well fed. The animals often come out of their living tubes during the day and sun themselves. At the same time they lurk for prey.
Aphonopelma seemanni is very common in Central American countries along the coastline of the Pacific Ocean.
Appearance
The adult females reach six centimeters in length. The color is variable depending on where it was found. Some specimens have a light brown, others a gray-blue base tone. The typical white stripes that have led to the name "zebra tarantula" in several languages are also differently pronounced. The species has two white stripes on the patella that continue on the tibia . On the metatarsi there is only a white stripe that is only a quarter as long as the entire metatarsus.
In Aphonopelma seemanni , as in most spider species, a clear sexual dimorphism is visible. Males are dark brown after moulting and without the white stripes characteristic of this species.
From the front
Cub
Aphonopelma seemanni with grasshopper.
Terrarium keeping and breeding
The animals are often kept in terrariums. However, offspring are very rare. A mating turns out to be difficult. Although successful pairings have already been reported, females very rarely build cocoons. Therefore practically all spiders of this type kept in terrariums are caught in the wild. For this purpose, animals or cocoons are taken from their natural range and imported into the buyer countries.
However, wild catches are prohibited in Costa Rica.
literature
- Peter Klaas: tarantulas. Origin, care, species. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8001-3696-1 .
- Günther Schmidt: tarantulas. Way of life, key to identification, keeping, breeding. Landbuch, Hannover 1993, pp. 77-82, ISBN 3-7842-0484-8 .
- Andreas Tinter: tarantulas. Poisons, way of life, behavior . Nikol, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-933203-49-X .
