# Peruvian Amazon -- arachnids



## moloch (Feb 18, 2010)

In January, I went to the Peruvian Amazon with Margarita Tours.  The purpose of this trip was primarily to photograph reptiles.  The tour leaders, however, were all too happy to assist those of us who wanted to look at other animals as well.  I spent a great deal of time birding, photographing butterflies and searching for other exciting invertebrates.

Here is a link to the website of Margarita Tours:

http://www.amazon-ecotours.com/ 

Our tour visited two of the research stations affiliated with Margarita Tours.  The first stop was Madre Selva which was located about 12 hours down river from Iquitos.  Here are a few pics of the journey to Madre Selva.

A new boat, the "Nenita", operated by Margarita Tours:







... buildup of a big storm in the afternoon while heading down river:







... later it cleared and the river was as reflective as a mirror:



















We turned south into the Rio Orosa, one of the myriad of tributaries of the Amazon.  Madre Selva is located a few kms upstream.







Dining hall at Madre Selva:







Dormitory at Madre Selva:







Madre Selva was covered with old secondary forest.  The original forest must have been cut long ago since the canopy was closed and the forest understorey was open.  Antbirds and other forest interior birds were abundant and diverse.








Our second stop was at Santa Cruz, a recent acquisition by Project Amazonas.  This site was only about an hour by fast water taxi from Iquitos.  Santa Cruz was accessed by the Rio Napo, another tributary of the Amazon.




















The forest here was cut much more recently than at Madre Selva.  Many areas were dense and impenetrable.  There were small patches of primary forest along some of the drainages but in general, birdlife was not so diverse.  It was good for reptiles and invertebrates.


























The infrastructure here was much more basic than at Madre Selva.








This report will cover the arachnids encountered on the trip.  I would be grateful for identifications as I know little about these creatures.


Harvestman with extremely long legs:








Harvestman of some sort?  I love the strange pattern and shape.









Another that had been killed by a fungus.  Skeletons like this are not all that uncommon.  It seems that there is a fungus that attacks and consumes the inverts.  When finished, all that is left is the exoskeleton and portions of the dried fungus.









Web-casting Spider.  I saw a few of these amazing creatures at both Madre Selva and Santa Cruz.














Tarantula.  This one was hunting in a banana plantation.








A real monster, the largest arachnid that I have ever encountered.  It was heavy enough to be heard as it ran across the floor of the photo lab.







Jewel Spider?  Amazing body form.  Does anyone know why these animals have this form?  Is it somehow disruptive so that it is not recognized by predators?








Another Jewel?  Pretty but not as elaborate as the species above:










... big and nicely coloured:








... big and "relaxed":







Is this some sort of Wolf Spider?  It was defensive and it jumped onto my boot when I disturbed it.








Wolf Spider?









This was the largest spider (non-tarantula) that I have ever seen!  Someone called it a "Banana Spider".  Does anyone recognize it?














I saw a few scorpions like this at night.  They were usually sitting quietly, head downwards, on small tree trunks within a meter of the ground.







I saw these Tail-less Whip Scorpions every night in the forest.  They were usually on fallen logs or on the trunks of big trees.




















Sunset on the Rio Orosa:







Thanks for the help,
David


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## JC (Feb 18, 2010)

I'm in heaven :drool: .......


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## Venom (Feb 18, 2010)

The spider 5th/ 6th photo from bottom is a Phoneutria!! 

That looks like an incredible trip. Nice job on the photography!


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## ErikWestblom (Feb 18, 2010)

Venom said:


> The spider 5th/ 6th photo from bottom is a Phoneutria!!
> 
> That looks like an incredible trip. Nice job on the photography!


Think that's 6th-7th from bottom.

Nr 8, 9 and 10 from the bottom are Ctenidae (same family as Phoneutria).

Nr 11 from the bottom, that nicely colored one, is a Sparassidae (huntsman).

Wouldn't say no to any of those 

Looks like an awesome trip! Did you go for 1 or 2 weeks?

Excellent photography btw!


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## Tiggy (Feb 18, 2010)

OMG I AM SO JELOUS!!!!

That looks like an unforgetable trip you took, and those photographs were wonderful!

Thanks for posting!


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## zonbonzovi (Feb 18, 2010)

Fantastic shots, David!  Thanks for sharing.

I believe: #6 is Avicularia sp., 8 & 9 are some sort of Micrathena sp.

The first tailless whip is a female, the 2nd a male, maybe Heterophrynus?

How would you rate the guide service overall?  This company's on my list for a future possible trip.


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## sharpfang (Feb 18, 2010)

*Was the Web-Casting Spider directly above H2O ?*

Curious.....

Great Pix! :worship: I wanna go too, me too, me too.

That Bottom pick, Wow! 

TY - Jason


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## super-pede (Feb 19, 2010)

banana spiders can kill you! Incredible pics:clap:


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## pato_chacoana (Feb 19, 2010)

Great pics!! It makes me want to come back there... I was there last year, exactly a year ago! But went to explore the Pacaya-Samiria area. I found the same Pamphobeteus sp. and a different Avicularia (sp. peru purple), also Cyriocosmus bertae, Tapinauchenius sp....
This year, another Amazon trip for sure!!

Cheers,
Pato


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## Venom (Feb 19, 2010)

I think spider pic #1 looks like a Pholcid more than an Opilionid harvestman.


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## moloch (Feb 19, 2010)

Hello all,

Thanks so much for all of the help with the spider identifications.  Sorry for not numbering the pics as that would have made it easier.

Do you have any ideas about the identity of arachnid #2 from top?  The harvestman with spikes on the abdomen?  What an odd creature it was.

Erik,
I was in Peru for 14 days.  Ten of these were on tour and the other four I spent with friends at the Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve near Iquitos.  The latter site is an interesting white sand area.  This reserve protected primary forest but this was dense with stunted trees due to the soil conditions.


zonbonzovi,
I would highly recommend Margarita Tours to anyone interested in seeing the Amazon.  Although I was on a reptile tour, people were free to do anything.  I usually went with a couple of friends or alone into the forest.  There were guides available but once I was familiar with the trails, they were no longer necessary.  We did use a bird guide a fair amount of the time since he was so good at recognizing the calls of various birds.

The cost of the tour was much less than I expected.  Facilities were perfectly adequate and food was good.  We had a varied lot of participants but we all got along well.  It really was a wonderful experience.


Jason,
No, I only saw the web-casting spiders in the forest or in banana plantations.  None were over water.  Strange beasts!


Super-pede,
I know nothing about the banana spiders.  Are their bites really that toxic?  I was under the impression that they delivered a painful bite but nothing worse.   I read a report of another guy who visited Madre Selva a couple of years ago.  In front of the dorm were poles where we would place our gumboots.  When he picked his up one morning, he tapped the boot before putting it on ... fortunately!  One of these monsters emerged and it was highly defensive.


Thanks again,
David


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## pwilson5 (Feb 19, 2010)

moloch said:


> Super-pede,
> I know nothing about the banana spiders.  Are their bites really that toxic?  I was under the impression that they delivered a painful bite but nothing worse.   I read a report of another guy who visited Madre Selva a couple of years ago.  In front of the dorm were poles where we would place our gumboots.  When he picked his up one morning, he tapped the boot before putting it on ... fortunately!  One of these monsters emerged and it was highly defensive.
> 
> 
> ...


quick google search brought up this:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-banana-spider.htm

"The South American banana spider's venom is neurotoxic, or acts on the nervous system, and is similar to the venom produced by redback spiders, also known as black widows. A phoneutria banana spider's bite will cause immediate pain, a cold sweat and irregular heartbeat. Antivenin does exist and the bite can be deadly so immediate medical attention is necessary."


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## moloch (Feb 19, 2010)

Here are three more:

1)  Looks similar to the animal in aollgaard's report from Ecuador.  Unfortunately, I had my zoom rather than macro mounted and did not take the time to change lenses.







2) An arachnid with its own collection of arachnids:







3) another scorpion.  This one was from Santa Cruz but I suppose that it was the same as the one already posted that was photographed at Madre Selva:








Regards,
David


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## moloch (Feb 19, 2010)

Thanks, pwilson.

Here is a closeup of one of the Banana Spiders:







It was sitting quietly on the upper leaves of a small shrub along the trail.  A couple of branches below was this feeding katydid and cricket.  Talk about living dangerously!  They were no doubt in for a surprise if they climbed abit higher.













Regards,
David


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## tarcan (Feb 24, 2010)

really nice!


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## Alejandro45 (Feb 26, 2010)

very nice pictures.

banana spiders are very deadly and rumor has it the venom from that spider will give you a really painful erection and if you live, you will not be able to have erections afterward.


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## moloch (Feb 27, 2010)

Alejandro,

Thanks for the info.  I don't think that I like Banana Spiders anymore!

Regards,
David


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## moloch (Feb 28, 2010)

Here is another shot of a Banana Spider.  This one was from Santa Cruz whereas the others were from Madre Selva.









More pics of a Micrathena sp. that I encountered at night at Santa Cruz:







... cryptic pose:







... is this its nest?








... feeding whip-scorpion.  It was munching a small cockroach:








Regards,
David


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## AlanMM (Mar 10, 2010)

Alejandro45 said:


> very nice pictures.
> 
> banana spiders are very deadly and rumor has it the venom from that spider will give you a really painful erection and if you live, you will not be able to have erections afterward.


Stop telling crap. Like you said: "rumor".

It's the truth that Phoneutria sp. have venom that is more much more dangerous then other spiders, but aren't as deadly as you say.
You probably read that in a magazine. Try getting some serious info before talking bs.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0036-46652000000100003&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en


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## cacoseraph (Mar 10, 2010)

SeekneSs said:


> Stop telling crap. Like you said: "rumor".
> 
> It's the truth that Phoneutria sp. have venom that is more much more dangerous then other spiders, but aren't as deadly as you say.
> You probably read that in a magazine. Try getting some serious info before talking bs.
> ...


well... they definitely can give arise to priapism.  search for the paper http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rimtsp/v42n1/v42n1a03.pdf online.  i don't know as it is going to break your junk, though.






awesome pictures!  looks like you really got to see a lot of bugs down there


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## AlanMM (Mar 10, 2010)

I was talking about: "banana spiders are very deadly". Where did he get that.
I don't know a thing about the priapism...


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## cacoseraph (Mar 10, 2010)

SeekneSs said:


> I was talking about: "banana spiders are very deadly". Where did he get that.
> I don't know a thing about the priapism...


actually i think most of the heavy spiders can give you a.. hard time  i believe i recall seeing reports for Loxosceles, Latrodectus, and now Phoneutria



yeah, they are mostly deadly... to roaches and other small bugs =P

there are species with confirmed kills... but the actual chance of dying if you got to a hospital is so negligible as to not really come into play. especially if one of the "weaker" species is the one that bites you


that being said... they CAN do some pretty dramatic systemic affects and 98% of the ppl in the study in that paper i mentioned had some kind of noticeable affects from the spider... 8% sounded fairly uncomfortable and 0.5% has some craziness go down


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## AlanMM (Mar 11, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> actually i think most of the heavy spiders can give you a.. hard time  i believe i recall seeing reports for Loxosceles, Latrodectus, and now Phoneutria


Hmm, natural Viagra then... 
(I did heard something like that before, but also heard it wans't true. Great to hear that not all things in newspapers are "stories")



cacoseraph said:


> there are species with confirmed kills... but the actual chance of dying if you got to a hospital is so negligible as to not really come into play. especially if one of the "weaker" species is the one that bites you


Ok, then we agree that saying these spiders are *very* deadly to humans is exaggerated.

By the way can you PM me a link to that paper, I can't find it...


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## Scorpendra (Mar 11, 2010)

Nice shots of the Phoneutria. You say it was sitting quietly? From all the recent discussion, I'd have expected it to whip out a glock and shoot you on sight! I heard that misidentification causes a bit of discrepancy about which species have confirmed kills and which ones don't...although I can't imagine one not being medically important.

Isn't the orange and black one a Sparassid?


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## skippy (Mar 11, 2010)

moloch said:


> A real monster, the largest arachnid that I have ever encountered.  It was heavy enough to be heard as it ran across the floor of the photo lab.


 
i am fairly certain that this one is a mature male pamphobeteus of some kind. not platyomma, nigricolor, S equador or any others with bright male coloring obviously though.


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## moloch (Mar 11, 2010)

Thanks, everyone, for all of the info.  Whether the discussion was based on "rumors" or factual, it all was interesting.  I knew nothing about these spiders until reading the comments here and on the marathon post of Phoneutria.

I did see shots in an earlier reptile posting on FieldHerpForum of an annoyed Phoneutria.  It was interesting how the Banana Spider held two pairs of legs elevated and tightly pressed together when it reared.  Funnel webs usually have the legs apart when they do the same.  The guy who posted on FHF found one of these spiders in his gum boot one morning.  Sounds like an unpleasant surprise!


The Phoneutria that I obsevered were ususally sitting on the upper surface of leaves near the tops of small shrubs.  I think that there would have been invertebrate "interaction" a little later in the night.  I saw both of the following feeding and working their way up a shrub without knowing the surprise that awaited them when they neared the shrubtop:











... waiting on the upper leaves was:







I think others have suggested Sparassid as well for the orange and black spider ... quite a nice looking animal.


Thanks again,
David


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## Zoltan (Mar 13, 2010)

Great pictures, I love the shots of the amblipygids. I wonder if that big black theraphosid could be _Pamphobeteus crassifemur_?


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## YeloNeck (Mar 17, 2010)

I hope that paradise looks exactly like pictures of yours !


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## moloch (Mar 19, 2010)

Thanks, YeloNeck.  The Amazon basin was a beautiful place to visit!

Thanks also for the suggested identification, Zoltan.

Regards,
David


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