Poecilotheria ornata
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Poecilotheria ornata , male |
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| Poecilotheria ornata | ||||||||||||
| Pocock , 1899 |
Poecilotheria ornata is a species of tarantula from Sri Lanka . It belongs to the genus Poecilotheria . It is also called "Divimakulawa" or "Diamakula" by the local population. It was described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1899. It is a species of tree-dwelling tarantula found in the southwest of the island. This species of spider is also kept in terrariums and was one of the most expensive tarantulas in the 1990s.
features
The animals show a clear sexual dimorphism in color . Even the young animals differ in color. The difference can be clearly seen from a body length of three centimeters. The leaf pattern on the abdomen is lighter in color in female animals and the drawing is more contrasting and therefore easier to recognize. The males appear duller and appear grayish all over their bodies. The spiderlings are similar in color to the related species Poecilotheria subfusca , but they grow faster per molt.
The females are up to seven inches long. The basic color is dark gray to black. The spider has a striking pattern of white and black lines, windows and dots on the top. A white spot with a zigzag border sits in the center of the gray-brown opisthosoma. Black lines arise from the tips and run away to the sides and back. The drawing on the underside of the legs is very similar to the South Indian species Poecilotheria rufilata .
The males are up to four centimeters long (measured from the bite claws to the spinnerets) and have very long legs for male tarantulas. It makes you look very big. In contrast to the female, the basic color is red-brown. It has a golden, coppery to purple sheen. Both sexes have longer red hairs under the bite claws.
Poecilotheria ornata , female
Poecilotheria ornata , male
Behavior and habitat
P. ornata occurs in the humid rainforests in the southwest of the island of Sri Lanka. The temperatures during the day reach 28 ° C and rain falls daily. The frequency of rain drops little at the end of summer and in winter. In the forests, the spider prefers trees with a circumference of about thirty to forty centimeters. There it mainly inhabits naturally occurring crevices and caves in the trunk, which occur at a height from thirty centimeters to a few meters above the ground. The spider seems to prefer caves that are tapered upwards and open downwards. Such caves may offer climatic advantages and they dry out more quickly after rainfall. The animals seek a dry environment, especially when the cocoon is formed, so that the eggs and larvae are not damaged by moisture. Females carrying cocoons are therefore often found in the least humid month of August. Mating, on the other hand, usually takes place during the main rainy season in winter or early summer.
distribution
P. ornata occurs in the lowland rainforest areas in southwest Sri Lanka. The lowland rainforest in Sri Lanka has been cleared over 90% in the last two hundred years and this species of tarantula is therefore threatened. In the state-protected forests, which make up about 2% of the original forest on the island, specimens of this species are common.
Systematics
P. ornata is closely related to P. vittata . The southeastern distribution area of this species in Sri Lanka is close to that of P. ornata . The stridulation organs and the shape of the bulbs also suggest a close relationship with the northern species P. fasciata .
Web links
Poecilotheria ornata in the World Spider Catalog
Individual evidence
- ^ Reginald Innes Pocock: The genus Poecilotheria: its habits, history and species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 7th series, 3, pp. 82-96, 1899
- ↑ Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern: World Spider Catalog Version 15.5 - Poecilotheria ornata . Retrieved September 9, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Krehenwinkel; Maerklin; Kroes: Ornamental bird spiders - The genus Poecilotheria Herpeton, Offenbach 2008, ISBN 3-936180-27-X , pp. 134-138