South America

The genus Acanthoscurria  was established in 1871 by Austrian arachnologist Anton Ausserer. Its most famous member, Acanthoscurria geniculata , was actually described earlier, in 1841, and later became the type species for the group. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many large South American tarantulas were shuffled between several now-obsolete genera before being brought together under Acanthoscurria . Today, Acanthoscurria  includes more than thirty recognized species

This genus comprises arboreal species that can be found throughout Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. All of the Avicularia species have pink foot pads. Many species in this genus have been transferred to other genera. Currently, there are 12 accepted Avicularia species. Historically, over 50 species were classified as Avicularia. Fukushima 2017 is a large-scale taxonomy su

Anqasha is a small genus of New World tarantulas from the Ancash region of the central Peruvian Andes. Currently, the World Spider Catalog recognizes three species—A. picta, A. minaperinensis, and A. lima—all described within the last few decades, making this a very recently defined group. These spiders are typically small to medium terrestrial tarantulas from high-elevation grassland and scrub habitats in and around the Cordillera Blanca, where conditions are cooler and wett

Amazonius  is a relatively new genus of arboreal tarantulas in the subfamily Psalmopoeinae, formally established by Yeimy Cifuentes and Rogério Bertani in 2022. Their revision and cladistic analysis of the related genera Tapinauchenius  and Psalmopoeus  revealed a distinct Amazonian lineage that warranted separation into its own genus. Several species now placed in Amazonius  have a longer and somewhat tangled taxonomic history. The type species, Amazonius elenae , was origin

Bumba is a small Neotropical genus of terrestrial tarantulas in the subfamily Theraphosinae, found mainly in the Amazon region of Brazil, with some species also recorded from Paraguay, Venezuela and Bolivia. The group was first described in 2000 by Fernando Pérez-Miles under the name Iracema , based on the species Iracema cabocla  from Amazonian Brazil. When it was later discovered that the name Iracema  was already in use for another animal, the genus was briefly renamed Mar

There is only one species in this genus -- the C. cyaneopubescens. This is a hobby staple. Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens Common Name:  Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Origin: This species is native to the Paraguaná Peninsula in northern Venezuela, where it inhabits hot, dry coastal scrub and semi-desert areas. Lifestyle: Green Bottle Blues are terrestrial webbers. In nature they live in shallow burrows at the base of shrubs or rocks and build extensive, messy sheets of silk over

The dwarf tarantula genus Cyriocosmus  was established by French arachnologist Eugène Simon in 1903 . He created the genus to house two small Neotropical species he had originally described in 1889 as Hapalopus sellatus  and Hapalopus elegans ; these became Cyriocosmus sellatus  (the type species) and Cyriocosmus elegans  respectively. These spiders are part of the subfamily Theraphosinae and are characterized by compact bodies, often with striking abdominal patterns and a si

Catumiri (often misspelled “Catumuri”) is a genus of small South American tarantulas in the family Theraphosidae. It was established in 2004 by Brazilian arachnologist José Paulo Leite Guadanucci, who recognised that several dwarf “ischnocoline” tarantulas formed a distinct group based on their anatomy. The genus name comes from the Indigenous Tupi word catumiri , meaning “very small” – a nod to their tiny adult size compared to most tarantulas. Historically, what we now call

Dolichothele is a small genus of brightly coloured dwarf tarantulas from central and eastern Brazil and neighbouring Bolivia, currently placed in the family Theraphosidae. It was erected in 1923 by Brazilian arachnologist Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão for Dolichothele exilis , based on a female from the caatinga around Campina Grande, Paraíba, and was originally assigned to the trapdoor-spider family Barychelidae. In 1971, a re-examination of the type specimen showed it act

Euathlus is a genus of South American tarantulas first established by Anton Ausserer in 1875, with Euathlus truculentus  designated as the type species. These are small- to medium-sized terrestrial tarantulas, mostly from temperate, often higher-elevation habitats along the Andes in Chile and Argentina, with a few species reaching northern Chile and southern Peru. The group has a famously tangled taxonomic history. Over the last century various Chilean and Mexican species wer

Ephebopus  is a small genus of New World tarantulas from northeastern South America, first established by French arachnologist Eugène Simon in 1892, with Mygale murina  Walckenaer, 1837 reclassified as Ephebopus murinus  and designated as the type species. Over the years, the group has puzzled taxonomists: its relationships within Theraphosidae have been repeatedly revised, and the genus has been shuffled among multiple subfamilies as new morphological and cladistic data emer

Guyruita is a small genus of South American tarantulas in the family Theraphosidae, first established in 2007 by J. P. L. Guadanucci and colleagues. The genus was created to accommodate two new Brazilian species, Guyruita cerrado  (the type species) and G. atlantica , and to receive Holothele waikoshiemi  from Venezuela, which was transferred into the new genus based on shared anatomical features. Since its description, Guyruita has gradually expanded as additional species ha

Homoeomma is a genus of small South American tarantulas first described by Austrian arachnologist Anton Ausserer in 1871. The name comes from Greek and roughly means “similar eye,” referring to the similar size of the spider’s median eyes. Today the genus is placed in the family Theraphosidae and is best known in the hobby for compact, burrowing species from Chile and Brazil. Ausserer originally created Homoeomma for a Brazilian tarantula then known as Mygale versicolor . Lat

Holothele is a small New World tarantula genus first established by Ferdinand Karsch in 1879 for the species Holothele recta  from northern South America. At the time it was actually placed among the “curtain-web spiders” (family Dipluridae), and only later, in 1980, was it formally moved into the tarantula family Theraphosidae. Through the 20th century, Holothele became a “catch-all” for many small, ground-dwelling tarantulas from Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Hapalopus  is a genus of dwarf tarantulas first described in 1875 by Anton Ausserer. Originally a “catch-all” for several tiny, colorful Neotropical species, the group has been heavily revised as spider taxonomy has improved. Modern studies of the original type specimen and related species have tightened the definition of the genus and moved many mis-assigned species into new or better-defined genera. Today, Hapalopus  contains just a handful of small terrestrial tarantulas f

Iridopelma  is a small genus of New World arboreal tarantulas endemic to Brazil. It was erected in 1901 by British arachnologist Reginald Innes Pocock, who separated these delicate, tree-dwelling spiders from the catch-all “bird spider” groupings that dominated 19th-century taxonomy. For much of the 20th century Iridopelma was poorly known, represented mainly by the type species Iridopelma hirsutum  and a handful of scattered records from the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. Ad

Kochiana is a small genus of New World tarantulas in the family Theraphosidae, native to Brazil’s Atlantic forest and surrounding regions. The story of the genus starts in the early 1840s, when Carl Ludwig Koch described a tiny Brazilian theraphosid as Mygale brunnipes  in his classic work Die Arachniden . For more than a century the species remained poorly known and was even treated as “indeterminable” (a nomen dubium) in later catalogs. In 2008, Brazilian arachnologists Car

This genus includes one accepted species, the L. sazimai. Required reading is an article by Galleti-Lima et al. 2023. Lasiocyano sazimai Common name Brazilian Blue Tarantula (also known as Sazima’s Tarantula / Iridescent Blue Tarantula). Origin Endemic to eastern Brazil, particularly the highland areas of Bahia and Minas Gerais (Chapada Diamantina / Espinhaço range). Lifestyle New World terrestrial, opportunistic/facultative burrower. In captivity it prefers a terrestrial s

Lasiodora is a New World tarantula genus first described in 1850 by German arachnologist Ludwig Carl Christian Koch. Originally, a large number of big, ground-dwelling Brazilian tarantulas were grouped under Lasiodora as European naturalists explored the Atlantic coast of Brazil in the 19th century. The type species, Lasiodora klugi , was initially described in 1841 (as Mygale klugii ) before being placed in the new genus. Over time, many spiders once called “Lasiodora” were

Megaphobema is a small New World tarantula genus first described by British arachnologist Reginald Innes Pocock in 1901, based on specimens of what we now call Megaphobema robustum  from Colombia. Pocock separated Megaphobema from similar, bulky South American tarantulas (like Pamphobeteus ) by its distinctive leg proportions: the third and fourth leg pairs are noticeably thicker and more powerful than the front legs, giving these spiders their “rear-heavy” look. Over the 20t