Aphonopelma seemanni
| Costa Rican zebra tarantula | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Suborder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: | Theraphosidae |
| Genus: | Aphonopelma |
| Species: | A. seemanni |
| Binomial name | |
| Aphonopelma seemanni (F. O. P-Cambridge, 1897) | |
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| Synonyms | |
|
Eurypelma seemanni | |
The Costa Rican zebra tarantula, also known as the striped-knee tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni), is a species of tarantula inhabiting most of western Costa Rica and other parts of Central America, such as Honduras and Nicaragua, and possibly Guatemala. It is usually black with white stripes near the leg joints, but a brown color formation also exists for the spider.
Zebra tarantulas are deep-burrowing spiders. They live in open, semiarid scrublands, and are often found in large aggregations. The deep burrows keep the temperature below the highest daytime temperatures, and retain humidity. Conversely as temperatures drop at night, the burrows buffer away from the lowest temperatures.
Zebra tarantulas can grow to about 10–13 cm including legspan. Females can live up to 20 years. Males, however, tend to live a much shorter life of up to five years, with about a single year of maturity. Diet consists of many insects. In the wild, they eat a wide variety of insects such as grasshoppers and cockroaches. In captivity, they eat crickets.
References
- Platnick, Norman I. (2008): World Spider Catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.
External links
