Tarantulas

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

Aphonopelma  is a genus of New World tarantulas formally established in 1901 by British arachnologist Reginald Pocock, separating these sturdy, ground-dwelling spiders from earlier “catch-all” groups. Native to the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America, Aphonopelma  species have become iconic desert and grassland tarantulas. Throughout the 1900s the group went through several reclassifications and name changes, but in 1991 an international ruling officially fixe

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

There is currently only one accepted species in this genus. Muller (2024) described this species in a comprehensive publication. Source: Muller 2024 Source: Muller 2024 Aspinochilus rufus Common name: Often sold as the Peach Earth Tiger or Rufus Earth Tiger tarantula. Origin: An Old World arboreal species endemic to Java, Indonesia, specifically montane rainforest habitats. Lifestyle: Arboreal tarantula that will also make use of burrows or deep retreats, heavily webbing it

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

The genus Brachypelma  was established in 1891 by French arachnologist Eugène Simon, based on spiders like Mygale emilia  (now Brachypelma emilia ). These large, ground-dwelling tarantulas from Mexico became famous for their calm temperament and striking red or orange markings on the legs, especially species such as Brachypelma smithi  and Brachypelma hamorii . Through the 20th century, the group’s classification was debated. At different times Brachypelma  was treated as a s

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

Cyriopagopus  is a Southeast Asian tarantula genus first described by French arachnologist Eugène Simon in 1887, with Cyriopagopus paganus  designated as the type species. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, closely related Asian tarantulas were split among several genera, including Selenocosmia , Haplopelma , Melopoeus , Lampropelma , and Omothymus . As more material was studied, it became clear that many of these taxa were very similar, and their boundaries were poor

Citharacanthus  is a genus of New World tarantulas in the family Theraphosidae, found in Central America and the Caribbean, especially Cuba, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Hispaniola. The genus was established in the early 1900s by British arachnologist R. I. Pocock, who reassigned several large ground-dwelling species from older catch-all genera into Citharacanthus as tarantula taxonomy became more refined. One of these, Citharacanthus longipes , originally described by F. O.

Ceratogyrus is a genus of African tarantulas in the family Theraphosidae, better known to keepers as the horned baboon spiders. They’re named for the distinctive foveal “horn” on the carapace that many, though not all, species develop, along with a characteristic pale sub-abdominal band. Today the genus contains 10 accepted species distributed across the drier savanna and scrub habitats of southern Africa, from Angola and Namibia through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi

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

Caribena  is a modern Caribbean tarantula genus formally established in 2017, when taxonomists revised the classic “pinktoe” group and split off a distinct island lineage from the old genus Avicularia . Although the name Caribena  is new, its species – most notably the beloved Antilles pinktoe ( Caribena versicolor ) and Puerto Rican pinktoe ( Caribena laeta ) – have been known to science since the 19th century under older names. These arboreal spiders are now recognized as a

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

Chilobrachys is a genus of Old World tarantulas from Asia, first established by the German arachnologist Ferdinand Karsch in the late 19th century. The genus was formally named Chilobrachys  Karsch, 1892, with Chilobrachys nitelinus  from Sri Lanka designated as the type species. These spiders are medium to large fossorial tarantulas characterized by a specialized stridulating organ made of short spines on the chelicerae, which they can rub to produce sound. Today, they are k

The type species, Chaetopelma olivaceum , was originally described by C. L. Koch in the 1840s. Later, in 1871, Austrian arachnologist Anton Ausserer recognized a distinct group of similar spiders and erected the genus Chaetopelma  for them. These spiders are burrowing, ground-dwelling tarantulas from the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, with records from countries such as Turkey, Syria, Cyprus, Greece (including Crete), Egypt, Sudan, Cameroon and more recently Iran and

Cilantica is a very new genus of Indian tarantulas, formally described in 2024 by arachnologist Zeeshan A. Mirza during a major taxonomic revision of the Western Ghats subfamily Thrigmopoeinae  (family Theraphosidae ). The work re-examined museum specimens and fresh material from across the Western Ghats and found that several well-known “earth tiger” tarantulas formed a distinct lineage that warranted their own genus. The genus name Cilantica is a Latinized form of the Tamil

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

The genus Davus was established by O. Pickard-Cambridge in 1892 to describe a group of small, boldly patterned New World tarantulas now popularly known as tiger rumps . The type species, Davus fasciatus, comes from Costa Rica and Panama and helped define the classic look of the group: a compact terrestrial spider with a copper to orange carapace and a striking banded pattern on the abdomen. For much of the 20th century, Davus species bounced around the literature and were at

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