# Is this a tarantula?



## sevi777 (Nov 24, 2006)

I found this spider outside my house a yesterday and am not sure what it is.  Someone told me it was a tarantula so I thought this would be the best place to check.  Thanks to anyone for your help!

Sarah

PS-By the way, I am new to this site, so hello to everyone, and thanks again for any help!


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## TheDarkFinder (Nov 24, 2006)

Looks Asian, where are you from? Believe it or not there are allot of black male tarantulas in the world having a location would help. 

It is a mature male you should release it where you found it. It has only a few more months to live.


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## Jaygnar (Nov 24, 2006)

First, yes it does appear to be a tarantula or some kind of funnel web spider.  Like TheDarkFinder said, we would need more info before we could offer a positive ID.


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## Sheri (Nov 24, 2006)

Not a tarantula. 

Still a nice spider though!


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## gumby (Nov 24, 2006)

Im not so sure I would say that is a tarantula some better pics and more info would be great. it would be nice if you could get a pic of the body and a better view od the fangs to see which way they turned. some info that would be great to have would be: the size of the spider, your location, and how you found him. was he in your house, running around outside or in a burrow. the spikes on the legs are what lead me to think its not a T. Ive never seen that before but if it is a T. then it is most likly old world so be careful as the tend to have more venom.
scott


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## Sheri (Nov 24, 2006)

gumby said:


> Ive never seen that before but if it is a T. then it is most likly old world so be careful as the tend to have more venom.
> scott


Not more venom - just more potent venom causing more pain and longer after-effects such as aches and cramps.

It is important to note that no tarantula has been proven to be fatal or even of causing systematic damage. Pain however, is still not fun. 

(and this isn't a tarantula anyway.)

I will move this into the true spiders section so that some of our resident experts can weigh in on identification.


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## Crotalus (Nov 24, 2006)

Where do you live?
Looks like a Calisoga ssp. , perhaps C. longitarsis


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## P. Novak (Nov 24, 2006)

Does it look male to anyone else?? IF it in fact is a male C. longitarsis and you live in the US, would you mind shipping(Ill pay shipping) it to me for a 50/50 or I can buy it from you. I have a gorgeous female. Thanks.


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## ShadowBlade (Nov 24, 2006)

Crotalus said:


> perhaps C. longitarsis


That's my guess.
Bitey little things they are.



Novak said:


> Does it look male to anyone else??


Looking at its curled palps, I'd say yes it does.


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## sevi777 (Nov 24, 2006)

Hello, thanks for everyone's input, let me give you a little more info now.  I found him outside my house, on the front porch just sitting there.  It is about a half dollar size.  I live in Sonoma, CA-about 50 miles north of San Francisco.  I will try to get another few pictures up here, I took about 50 of them before we put him in the new terarium.  Again, thanks to everyone's help.


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## ShadowBlade (Nov 24, 2006)

Novak said:


> would you mind shipping(Ill pay shipping) it to me for a 50/50 or I can buy it from you. I have a gorgeous female. Thanks.


Heck, if you guys breed a batch, I'd buy some off you. I've been looking for some fresh ones.


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## ShadowBlade (Nov 24, 2006)

sevi777 said:


> It is about a half dollar size.


Yeah well head to end of abdomen, (Bodylength) should only be ~1". Also your location is about right for this species.


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## sevi777 (Nov 24, 2006)

I just double checked, the body size is more like the size of a quarter, I think about an inch.  With the legs, it is half dollar size.


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## sevi777 (Nov 24, 2006)

Also, any ideas on what we should put in the tank to give it somewhere to hide?  I still want to be able to see it, but dont want it to feel too stressed out by being out in the open all of the time.


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## Timmy (Nov 27, 2006)

I'd start out with a paper towel roll or something then get others opinions.


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## Elizabeth (Nov 28, 2006)

OK, so then why is it not a tarantula, but it is a C. longitarsus?   When I googled for C. longitarsus (arachnid), this came up:

"Aphonopelma eutylenum California woods tarantula 

 C. longitarsus is a medium/small sized tarantula with hairy longs legs and a span of nearly three and a half inches. As with most tarantulas, this species hunts down small insects like crickets and chews them up. This species is only found in CA, USA"


next to a picture that doesn't _quite_ look like the spiky leg guy up top...

http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandantenna/USInsects/arthropods/Arthropods.html





OK.  I think I found better info.  There are more sites willing to call that spiky leg spider a tarantula, but the best explanation of how it is like a tarantula, but not a tarantula, is this blurb from insect hobbyist:

I sent an email message to a Dr. Vincent (a professor at Fullerton College) and he was kind enough to reply. I also found some additional links based on his information. Here's his reply:

"How nice, and unusual, to get a good physical and behavioral description. I am sure that your spider is in the genus Calisoga (formerly Brachythele) and in the family Nemesiidae (formerly Dipluridae). I mention the old names in case you have an opportunity to look up the spider in older yet common spider books (American Spiders by Gertsch and How to Know the Spiders by Kaston). I too remember how aggressive Calisoga is. You should not try to pick it up with your hands, it will bite. Although the common name is funnel-web tarantula, it is not a true tarantula. California tarantulas are docile and can be picked up by hand.

"Your find is a significant new location record for this spider. If convenient and you could collect them safely, I would appreciate a few pickled specimens (rubbing alcohol would work). I would see to it that they got sent to the right museum.

Cheers,
Lenny Vincent

(Link for picture.)

http://forum.insecthobbyist.com/tarantulas/messages/3217.html



Interestingly, the message was from a person near Santa Cruz.  I live near SC, too, and we have these Calisoga longitarsis here, too.  I just assumed they were the local Ts without looking closely at the spiky (v. hairy) legs.  Novak, you could just hunt over the hill, here.  These are definitely around!


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## cacoseraph (Nov 28, 2006)

Elizabeth said:


> OK, so then why is it not a tarantula, but it is a C. longitarsus?   When I googled for C. longitarsus (arachnid), this came up:
> 
> "Aphonopelma eutylenum California woods tarantula
> 
> C. longitarsus is a medium/small sized tarantula with hairy longs legs and a span of nearly three and a half inches. As with most tarantulas, this species hunts down small insects like crickets and chews them up. This species is only found in CA, USA"



this comes down to defintions, as SO MANY of the sticky topics seem to.

basically there is no magic "tarantula" spiders. there is a group of spiders "scientifically" called myglamorphs that tend to be larger, live longer, and be hairy looking. this includes the australian funnel webs, trapdoors, tarantulas.

some ppl call all myglas tarantulas
there is a specific family in the myglamorphas called Theraphosidae that is traditionally called tarantula in the USA and maybe europe.

as far as i can tell, neither camp is "correct" as it is all a bastardization of a name given to a freakin non-myglamorph spider in the Italy area of the world.  i tend to use the theraphosidae = tarantula and call the rest of the myglas "myglas" or something like that

as long as definitions are considered and/or provided things can be relatively simple. i swear half the time there are arguments on here is it because the definitions of the words being use are not agreed on by both sides.


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## diadematus (Nov 28, 2006)

cacoseraph said:


> basically there is no magic "tarantula" spiders. there is a group of spiders "scientifically" called myglamorphs that tend to be larger, live longer, and be hairy looking. this includes the australian funnel webs, trapdoors, tarantulas.


To make matters worse for you:


> The most famous wolf spider is certainly the Mediterranean tarantula (the name being derived from the Italian town of Taranto). True tarantulas (Lycosa, Hogna)  can reach an impressive 30mm of body length, but they are not related to the big tropical "tarantulas", the mygalomorphs, also known as bird spiders.


 -- Rainer Foelix, The Biology of Spiders

So, use the Latin name.  (IMO)

-Kevin


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## ShadowBlade (Nov 28, 2006)

diadematus said:


> To make matters worse for you:
> -- Rainer Foelix, The Biology of Spiders
> 
> So, use the Latin name.  (IMO)
> ...


I'd hate to see people come on the boards here and get scared away because everyone was saying 'Hairy mygalamorph' as opposed to 'Tarantula'. Nobody gets the two confused. Atleast as much as I've seen.

They're scientific, not always latin, names.


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## cacoseraph (Nov 28, 2006)

diadematus said:


> To make matters worse for you:
> -- Rainer Foelix, The Biology of Spiders
> 
> So, use the Latin name.  (IMO)
> ...


the Lycosa tarantula has a pretty cool story attached to it. in the middle ages (or renaissance but back aways) peasants believed that when the Lycosa bit them they would either 1) be compelled to dance to exhaustion from the bite or 2) the would die unless they danced to exhaustion to somehow quell the power of the venom. there is a lively dance and/or music style called the tarentella (or something, it is a variation on tarantula at any rate) that arose from these crazy spider dances. personally i think the peasants liked to party by the Roman Catholic church wouldn't let them have any fun so this phenomenon sort of arouse as a like, social outlet for them.

these lycosa (what we call wolf spiders now) were pretty large (`3" legspan, i think) and heavy bodied.  when the old world explorers saw the new world theraphosidae they called them tarantulas, after the largest spiders they knew (yes, i know there are tarantulas in the old world... i don't know why they didn't know about the, except National Geographic(r) wasn't around yet =P ).

so, really and truly, the most historically accurate use of tarantula is *NOT*


so longish story short... i totally agree, only use scientific names, as common names are just horrible


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## cacoseraph (Nov 28, 2006)

ShadowBlade said:


> I'd hate to see people come on the boards here and get scared away because everyone was saying 'Hairy mygalamorph' as opposed to 'Tarantula'. Nobody gets the two confused. Atleast as much as I've seen.
> 
> They're scientific, not always latin, names.


most USA'ers don't seem to have too many problems, but some of our foreign friends have commented on this practice before, so there are some problems.

but Theraphosid isn't that much longer than tarantula to type... not that i do hehehe. hell, i type tara more than tarantula, and tarantula WAY more than theraphosid


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## diadematus (Nov 28, 2006)

I like local names, too. Here in Germany they have some wonderful spider names: Kreuzspinnen, i.e., "cross" spiders (Araneus diadematus); Kugelspinnen (Theridion), which I would translate as "ball" or "BB" spiders; "bridge cross" spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius); and Vogelspinnen -- which you  probably already are familiar with. 

But I like it, too, when people also mention the scientific names, because then I can be sure I know what they are talking about and also look it up.

Meanwhile I am still learning the lingo here.   (slings, Ts, etc.)

-Kevin


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