Eight-Subfamily: Theraphosinae


Subfamily:Theraphosinae Most of the tarantulas commonly sold in the pet trade come from this subfamily. They vary widely in temperaments, size, appearance, and habitats. However, all have urticating hair and all come from the Americas. All are terrestrial and most burrow. There are so many species in this subfamily that a separate page devoted to them is not only merited, but necessary due to browser constraints. Use the links below to easily navigate to your chosen genus.

**Select genus below:**
*Acanthoscurria*	*Aphonopelma*	*Brachypelma*	*Bonnetina*	*Chromatopelma*	*Citharacanthus*
*Clavopelma*	*Crassicrus*	*Cyclosternum*	*Cyriocosmus*	*Cytropholis*	*Euathlus*
*Eupalaestrus*	*Grammostola*	*Hapalopus*	*Hapalotremus*	*Hemirrhagus*	*Homoeomma*
*Iracema*	*Lasiodora*	*Lasiodorides*	*Megaphobema*	*Melloleitaoina*	*Metriopelma*
*Nesipelma*	*Nhandu*	*Ozopactus*	*Pamphobeteus*	*Paraphysa*	*Phormictopus*
*Plesiopelma*	*Pseudhapalopus*	*Reversopelma*	*Schismatothele*	*Schizopelma*	*Sericopelma*
*Sphaerobothria*	*Stenotarsus*	*Stichoplastoris*	*Theraphosa*	*Thrixopelma*	*Tmesiphantes*
*Vitalius*		*Xenesthis*

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Genus:Acanthoscurria
This genus is chiefly South American, particularly Brazil and Argentina. They are erroneously reputed to be one of the few genera in Theraphosinae that have stronger than average venom, but scientific evidence to support that claim is unavailable; authoritative literature regarding their venom disputes such allegations. It is likely a rumor initiated by research of the properties of these spiders' venom, which may be used to combat certain harmful bacteria.


Genus	Species	Common Name	Odds n' ends
Acanthoscurria	*acuminata, altmanni, antillensis, atrox, brocklehursti**	A. antillensis is sometimes marketed as "Pink Patched Birdeater". A. atrox is often sold as "Matto Grosso Giant Black", or "Brazilian Giant Black". A. brocklehursti is usually marketed as "Giant Black and White."	A. antillensis is indeed from the Lesser Antilles, and is also found in St. Lucia and other Caribbean islands. The rest are chiefly found in Brazil. A. acuminata was recently described by Schmidt and Tesmoingt in 2000; A. altmanni was described by the same duo in 2003, and is actually the same species as A. chacoana (per Bertani, 2003). A. atrox is sometimes sold as "Brazilian Giant Black", and it is indeed large, dark, and found in southern Brazil. A. brocklehursti (found in Para, Brazil) is similar to A. geniculata with the white bands on the legs.
Acanthoscurria	chacoana	Bolivian Salmon Pink	A large, somewhat leggy species with reddish hairs on its rear half. May get to 7 or 8". It has a wide range along the south-western border of Brazil, through Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. Its habitat is variable, from the low, flooding plains of Pantanal Matogrossense (a park in Brazil) to the drier, hilly regions.
Acanthoscurria	chiracantha, convexa cordubensis,cunhae,cursor, ferina, fracta	None	South American. A. cursor was described from two male specimens found near Ceara, Brazil. It has very slight leg banding. A. fracta was originally described from a male specimen collected in Para, Brazil. It is portrayed as similar to A. geniculata with narrower white stripes, different palpal organs, etc. A. ferina is found in Amazonas.
Acanthoscurria	geniculata	Giant Whiteknee, Whitebanded tarantula, Santarem Pink Haired	Stocky Brazillians that can grow to over 7" in legspan. They have white bands on their legs and are somewhat nervous, flicking hairs readily (F.O.P. Cambridge makes the first mention in Western literature regarding urticatious bristles when describing the capture of a female Acanthoscurria geniculata). They have recently become very popular in the pet trade due to their color, size, fast growth rate, and predilection for sitting in the open like members of the Lasiodora genus. It is naturally found near Rio Branco/Santarem.
Acanthoscurria	gomesiana, guaxupe, insubtilis	None	South American. Research of A. gomesiana's venom has revealed that, like some scorpion venom, it may be useful for combating certain bacteria and parasites (Silva, et al, 2000). A. insubtilis is found near San Mateo, Bolivia.
Acanthoscurria	juruenicola	Amazon orange banded	A somewhat defensive terrestrial. Dark overall, with reddish abdominal setae and slight banding at the joints of the legs.
Acanthoscurria	maga, melanotheria, minor,musculosa, natalensis, parahybana,paulensis, pugnax, rhodothele,rondoniae	None	All from South Amercia. A. natalensis is a mouse-brown/grayish spider described from a female collected near Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, by Chamberlin. A. musculosa may be found in San Mateo, Bolivia.
Acanthoscurria	sternalis	None	Formerly known as A. gigantea, this defensive tarantula changes color from nearly black overall to a rust red before molting. In addition to readily flicking hairs, A. sternalis has been known to spew its feces upon would-be attackers. It ranges from Tucuman, Argentina, to Tatarenda, Bolivia.
Acanthoscurria	suina,tarda, theraphosoides transamazonica, urens, violacea, xinguensis	None	According to Perez-Miles, A. suina commonly breeds in the Spring, with active males observed during cloudy, rainy days in Uruguay (Perez-Miles 45). They also inhabit Formosa state, Argentina, near the protected lands on the south shore of the Pilcomayo river ("protected" is used loosely. Illegal logging takes place there, and sometimes stray cattle from private ranches reduce vegetation in the park).

Genus	Species	Common Name	Odds n' ends
Aphonopelma	aberrans	None	From the rich agricultural area of Aconcagua, near Cas Blanca, Chile. A. aberrans was one of the first spiders with traits unique to Aphonopelma found there.
Aphonopelma	anax	Texas tan	Long-lived burrowers native to southern Texas. They have tan carapaces, reddish opisthosoma hairs, and are generally docile.
Aphonopelma	apacheum	None	Found in southeastern Arizona, and may range into western New Mexico as well.
Aphonopelma	armada	Texas Blackspot	Pretty much the same as A. hentzi, but with a dark spot on the opisthosoma.
Aphonopelma	arnoldi, baergi, behlei	None (A. baergi is sometimes called "Arkansas Brown" or "Arkansas Chocolate")	All are found in the United States. A. baergi is indeed named after William J. Baerg, author of The Tarantula. A. behlei live in northern New Mexico and Arizona. A. baergi lives in Arkansas, parts of Kansas and Missouri, and perhaps northern Louisiana as well.
Aphonopelma	bicoloratum	Mexican Bloodleg	A. bicoloratum is a gorgeous spider with deep orangish-red on the carapace and the ends of the legs, contrasted with dark femurs and opisthosoma. Similar to B. boehmei, but less striking. The mature males are black with reddish setae on the opisthosoma.
Aphonopelma	bistriatum braunshausenii, breenei brunnius	None	Range from the USA down to Brazil
Aphonopelma	burica	Chestnut brown, Chestnut Zebra, Bluefront	This Costa Rican has blue chelicerae fresh after a molt. Its marking is somewhat similar to its cousin, A. seemani, but is more brownish in color and has less-pronounced leg striping.
Aphonopelma	californicum*	California brown or blonde; common brown	This is not a "real" species, but representatives of other species lumped together. It is listed here because Aphonopelma spp. are sometimes sold by dealers under the name A. californicum. Likewise, an inhabitant of California used to be called Avicularia californicus. That species is probably synonymous with another California Aphonopelma spp.
Aphonopelma	caniceps	Big Bend gold, Gold carapace	From southern Texas, USA, down to central Mexico (possibly as far south as Guanajuato).
Aphonopelma	chalcodes	Mexican Blonde, Desert Blond	This species is often encountered in the southwestern United States, particularly southern Arizona. It's a handsome tan/biege tarantula that some say is defensive and other deem as quite docile. They have adapted to harsh desert conditions by being able to fast for long periods and require very minimal humidity.
Aphonopelma	chamberlini, chambersi, clarki clarum, coloradanum, cookei, cratium	None	Range from Colorado (A. coloradanum) down to Mexico. A. clarki is found in east-central Texas, near Dallas, and is named after a British museum curator.
Aphonopelma	crinirufum	Costa Rican Bluefront	This species is sometimes offered in the pet trade under the name Citharacanthus crinirufus,which was its scientific calling until 1997. Very similar to A. seemani, but with a slightly bluish tinge to the chelicerae and a dark ventral surface.
Aphonopelma	crinitum	Golden carapace redrump, Mexican green	Hail from Mexico, near Guanajuato.
Aphonopelma	cryptethum, duplex, echinum, eustathes	None	North and Central Amercian. A. echinum is one of the most common Aphonopelma spp. reported in Colorado. It also ranges south and east into Texas and New Mexico.
Aphonopelma	eutylenum	California ebony	Southern Californians with an overall dark brown coloration.
Aphonopelma	gabeli, geotoma, gertschi griseum gurleyi, hageni harlingenum, helluo	None	From the dry southwestern United States and northern Mexico. A. gabeli can be found in southern Arizona. A. helluo is sometimes encountered by tourists on surf trips in Baja California as well as southern California, USA.
Aphonopelma	hentzi	Texas brown	Incredibly wide-ranging, A. hentzi can be found as far north as Colorado, as far east as Kansas, and as far south as Texas and Arizona (West 2002, Richman 1999, Smith 1994).
Aphonopelma	hesperum, heterops, hollyi iodius, iviei, joshua jungi, lanceo, latum latens, levii, lithodomum marxi, minchi	None	Southwest US to Central Amercia. A. hesperum is an overall chestnut color, and lives in western mexico. A. latens is found near Polvon, Nicaragua, and has comparatively short metatarsi on legs IV. A. joshua, from California, is small and lives at a relatively high altitude (over 3000 ft). It is indeed named after Joshua Tree National Monument. A. iodius is similar to A. helluo, but has proportionally longer legs. It also inhabits a wide range from California to Utah. A. jungi can be found in southern Arizona and New Mexico. A. lithodomum can be found in northern Arizona (Richman 1999).
Aphonopelma	moderatum	Rio Grande gold	A tarantula from southern Texas that was given its common name by Marguerite Schultz. It is one of the more colorful US tarantulas, with tawny overall leg hair, wide, dark bands on the tibia, and a semi-metallic carapace.
Aphonopelma	mojave, mooreae, mordax nayaritum, odelli	None	USA species. A. mojave is incredibly small for a tarantula, but its range is huge. It lives all across the Mojave Desert, from soutwest Utah to interior southern California. A. mooreae looks somewhat similar to C. cyaneopubescens, but generally more drab and with a blue carapace.
Aphonopelma	pallidum	None	These Chihuahuans are not common in the US pet trade; sometimes B. verdezi is sold as A. pallidum. A. pallidum lives in the north Mexican desert, and is somewhat similar to A. caniceps, but the male's bulbs are distinctly different.
Aphonopelma	paloma,pedatum, phanum phasmus, platnicki, prosoicum punzoi, radinum,reversum, rothi rubropilosum, ruedanum rusticum sandersoni, schmidti, sclerothrix	None	Chiefly inhabitants of dry climates in the southwestern USA and northern Mexico, except A. pedatum, rubropilosum, and sclerothrix are from more humid climates. A. paloma may be the smallest species of tarantula known (R. West, personal communication, 2002). It inhabits the dry regions of southern Arizona. A. rusticum inhabits southern Arizona and northern Mexico (Richman 1999).
Aphonopelma	seemanni	Costa Rican Zebra	A jumpy Central American tarantula that has white/cream striping on its legs. Unlike many other members of Aphonopelma, this one doesn't mind a bit of humidity. Nervousness is particularly evident with many wild-caught adults, but most get quite calm in captivity after a time. More information and photos of this species can be found here.
Aphonopelma	stoicum*	None	This species may not belong to Aphonopelma, as the palps of the male are nothing like the palps of the other Aphonopelma (Reichling 2003).
Aphonopelma	texense	Texas Starr	This tarantula has a light tan overall color with darkened "knee" joints.
Aphonopelma	xanthochromum	None	Lives in Nicaragua and Northern Costa Rica. Like A. seemanni, it has a tawny underside and pale spinnerettes. However, it does not have pronounced leg striping. It's entirely possible that it is sometimes imported as A. seemani, or confused with brownish A. seemanni.
Aphonopelma	zionis	Panda tarantula	From the dry high country in Utah.

Genus	Species	Common Name	Odds n' ends
Brachypelma	albiceps	Amula Redrump	This south-central Mexican species used to be considered an Aphonopelma species, until it was found that they possess both type I and type III urticating bristles and stridulatory organs.
Brachypelma	albopilosum	Curlyhair	Obese, furry tarantulas that prefer somewhat humid conditions, but are hardy and adaptable to drier climes. They are usually docile and slow moving, but may flick hairs or act nervous on occasion. More information and photos of this species are located here.
Brachypelma	andrewi*	None	A newly described species (1992, by Schmidt). Most assert that it is actually Euathlus truculentus.
Brachypelma	angustum	Costa Rican Red	These, like many of the Central American members of Brachypelma, can do with a bit more humidity than their West Mexican relatives. They look nearly indentical to B. vagans, but have long, reddish setae on legs IV. Some assert that they're simply morphological variants. Valerio's original description doesn't offer much in the way of detail.
Brachypelma	annitha*	None	Hails from Mexico and is very similar in appearance to B. smithi. This may not be an actual species unto itself, but just a variant of B. smithi.
Brachypelma	auratum	Mexican Flameknee	Southwest coast of Mexico. Looks somewhat similar to B. smithi but with more boldly pronounced red patterning on the "knees."
Brachypelma	aureoceps	Florida Golden Chestnut	The female individual described in 1917 by Chamberlin was found in the USA (in the Dry Tortugas of the Florida Keys), but they were probably introduced from elsewhere (see notes under Brachypelma vagans and Phormictopus platus). Some suspect that what Chamberlin was describing was actually B. ruhnaui.
Brachypelma	baumgarteni	Mexican orange beauty	Another group of west coast Mexicans. Some people have recently proposed that Marc Baumgarten produced a hybrid and submitted it as a real species to taxonomists, yet I have seen authoritative accounts of their natural range in Mexico (Locht 200). It is possible that, since the habitats of many members of this genus overlap, there is great interrelationship between them and natural hybrids could have been evolving into distinct species long before man learned how to write.
Brachypelma	boehmei	Mexican Fireleg	Dark overall color, stocky build, and reddish knee joints fading into pinkish/orange tibia. The tarsi are black. These are another south-central species found on the Mexican west coast (south of Colima). More information and a photo is located here.
Brachypelma	embrithes	None	This former Eurypelma is Panamanian.
Brachypelma	emilia	Mexican redleg	This popular pet spider has one of the largest ranges of all the Brachypelma (the exception being B. vagans). It lives along the west coast of Mexico, from southern Mexico to the east bay, near Ciudad Obregon.
Brachypelma	epicureanum	Yucatan rustrump	These are from the Yucatan Peninsula and are somewhat similar in appearance to B. vagans when young. Older adults have less-pronounced red setae on the abdomen (sometimes none at all). Some suggest that they may be just morphological variants.
Brachypelma	fossorium, hamorii*	None	B. fossorium is Costa Rican (they are somewhat common in the state of Guanacaste), while B. hamorii is Mexican. B. hamorii may not be a species unto itself, but merely a color variant of B. smithi.
Brachypelma	klaasi	Mexican pink	Similar to B. albopilosum, with a dark underlying color and golden hairs extending from the legs and opisthosoma. From western Mexico, near Cape Corrientes. It has been proposed that this species and B. ruhnaui be given their own genus due to a slight difference in the spermathecae, but their geographic distribution and other factors retain them in the genus Brachypelma (Locht 200). In Europe, however, it was popular for the pet trade to sell them as Brachypelmides species in what was likely an attempt to avoid CITES restrictions.
Brachypelma	ruhnaui	None	See notes above for B. albiceps, with which this species was recently synonymized (R. Rojas, pers. comm 2006).
Brachypelma	sabulosum	Guatemalan Red Rump	Gentle terrestrials; very similar to B. vagans. Some believe they are morphological variants of the same species.
Brachypelma	schroederi	None	Jet-black spiders (sometimes with a pale carapace) from Mexico. Recently described by Rudloff.
Brachypelma	smithi	Mexican redknee	This species is commonly seen in movies and was the most popular pet tarantula for some time. Despite its widespread popularity, B. smithi has a small natural range. They're a neighbor of B. klaasi and are found in relatively small areas between Colima and Acapulco, on the west coast of Mexico. Exportation from Mexico is now limited due to the CITES agreement. However, that agreement doesn't protect them at all from destruction of their habitat, which is their primary killer (as early as 1958, William Baerg reported a 99% mortality rate in their natural habitat!). In fact, CITES may have worsened their situation. As a result, captive bred individuals now command a high price.
Brachypelma	vagans, vagans floridanus	Mexican redrump	The "floridanus" moniker is a joke, not a subspecies. A number of redrumps were found in an orange grove west of Ft. Pierce, FL, in 1996 (the colony may have originated as early as the late 1970s or 1986). The state attempted to eradicate them immediately (Edwards and Hibbard 2). Some of these bugs survived, but their range doesn't appear to be spreading (Edwards personal communication). They are normally from southern Mexico, central America, and northern S. America.
Brachypelma	verdezi	Mexican gray, Mexican rose gray	B. emelia look-alikes with dark appendages. Described by Schmidt in 2003. What's sometimes sold as B. pallidum or Aphonopelma pallidum in the pet trade are likely specimens of B. verdezi.

Genus	Species	Common Name	Odds n' ends
Bonnetina	cyaneifemur	None	B. cyaneifemur is pretty, with deep navy blue legs, reddish hairs on the abdomen, and a rosey carapace. These may have been first captive-bred in Japan, and are now regularly bred in Europe.
Bonnetina	rudloffi	None	Recently described by Fabian Vol. It's from Michoacan, Mexico.

Genus	Species	Common Name	Odds n' ends
Chromatopelma	cyaneopubescens	Greenbottle blue	Venezuelan spiders that are, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful tarantulas. They have blue legs, reddish-orange opisthosomas, and green carapaces. They prefer a dry climate, make much web, and are skittish. They earn a place in the yellow category due to their nervousness and difficulty with captive breeding. Though they are from Venezuela, they are from an area subject to the typical northeast sea breezes. Combine that with the temperature, and it drys out rapidly. Yes, it's Venezuela, and yes it does get humid without the wind and sun at night, but they do just fine with normal household humidity and a full water dish. In fact, some assert that too much humidity can be detrimental.