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- Jan 30, 2012
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A closer look at....Tapinauchineus violaceus
General background:
As with all „Tappies“, as they are called by most hobbyists, these are extremely agile and fast tarantulas, reaching beween 4“ to 5“. Although described as arboreals, these will behave much like Psalmopoeus spp. in captivity, constructing almost always a chamber underground their provided hides.
T. violaceus displays a very beautiful metallic-greenish carapace, purple abdomen and legs when adult – except for the toe-tips who look very dark, almost black. These do not have any urticating bristles and rely mainly on their speed and agility to escape dangerous situations.
Behavior:
Like already mentioned, these are true teleporters! This particular species seemingly isn't very defensive, though. Disturbances cause them to either run frantically around in their enclosure doing laps, or vanish immediately from sight into their hiding place. They are generally very skittish and it is highly advised to keep a catchcup ready when doing rehousings or maintenance / feedings at all times! Being very nervous, they don't necessarily make for the best display spider, although many calm down some to the extent of not disappearing on the slightest vibration felt.
My own AF „Saranyu“ sometimes even keeps sitting in her spot when I move her enclosure. It should be noted that this particular species seems to be very photosensitive and as such shouldn't be stressed out with shining a flashlight directly at them too often. My girl already freaks out when I turn on the main lights on the ceiling, instead of the one on the nightstand – so be reasonable.
Enclosure setup:
Tapinauchineus violaceus comes from the area around Cacao, south of the capital Cayenne in French Guiana. It's a tropical rainforest and the climate in that area is seldomly going below 21°C and peaks at around 26-27°C, with most humidity from December – July and least from August – November.
Picture of the habitat in that area: CLICKY
Village of Cacao: CLICKY
You can find a climate-diagram here: CLICKY
In captivity, these animals do well well between 20°-25°C, an enclosure size of (HeightxWidthxDepth) 10“x10“x10“ is sufficient for these and you can essentially even go down to 8“x8“ for adults since most max out around 4.5“ when adult. A hide in the form of a corkbark slab leaned against one side, or a corkbark-tube, will be used in most cases. Substrate-wise I'd either use cocofiber or eco-earth – personally I favorize the first. Provide them with around 3" since they will burrow to a degree usually. Some plastic-plants to achor webbing onto round out the setup. Although they hail from a rainforest region, the same rules as with Avicularia spp. apply: Good cross-ventilation makes for a happy Tappy! Water-dish should be provided and keeping the substrate slightly(!) moist for them works just fine.
Feeding:
Don't ever make the mistake of dropping a prey-item straight onto them! Chances are high you get an extremely freaked-out Tappie that will teleport around – and often out of the enclosure in which case you'll have fun trying to catch the bugger! Tappies catch prey very accurately and with tremendous speed – but they don't react too well to getting surprised by feeders! I've offered crickets, maelworms and even small superworms or locusts and she went after all of them. However, her personal favorite seem to be redrunner roaches and it's absolutely awesome to watch her catch 2-3 of those once the lid is closed!
Personally, I never had a problem with her when she was a tiny ~0.75“ spiderling – live prey in the form of pinheads or small crickets was taken down with gusto and no problems at all. It takes around 1-1.5 years to raise them to adul-hood with normal temps and feedings, so their growth-rate can be described as fast.
Toxicity:
Mild to moderate according to reports. While bites from members of the genus are reportedly painful (quite a few bitten subjects made the comparison to „feels like a red hot glowing nail, slowly driven into your skin and turned around“), the effects seemingly only last for a few hours with no systemic effects like vomitting or muscle cramps. The localized pain, swelling and at the most: Pain in the bitten extremity is apparently the worst about it. Still, these should be treated with respect, as escapes are likely to happen in case of irresponsible care.
Bottom line and personal opinion:
From all the Tappies available in the hobby, I favorize these for their beautiful looks. As long as the keeper is alert and careful when dealing with them, they're a great genus overall to keep. Newer keepers may want to try their hands on Avics first, since the speed of Tappies can be intimidating and problematic during rehousings, as well as making it easy for them to take a run for it and escape if not used to it. In addition, many are more on the defensive side. Other than that, great genus and species to keep with their fast growth-rate.
Some picture of my own female "Saranyu":
As sling:
Adult female at ~4.25"
Close-up:
In catchcup during cage-transfer:
With dud-sac:
Short vid I took mid 2013 of her:
Scientific Data taken from the World-Spider-Catalogue v17:
Taxonomic references
Ephebopus violaceusMello-Leitão, 1930b: 56, f. 4 (Df).
Avicularia violaceaLucas, Silva & Bertani, 1992: 163 (Tf from Ephebopus).
Tapinauchenius purpureusSchmidt, 1995c: 11, f. 1 (Dmf) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002485].
Tapinauchenius purpureusSchmidt, 2003l: 206, f. 617 (f).
Tapinauchenius purpureusPeters, 2005b: 111, f. 353-356 (f).
Tapinauchenius violaceusWest et al., 2008: 39, f. 21-22 (f, Sm).
As usual, if you find any errors feel free to correct them. Additional information is always appreciated, too! Hope this helps a few people looking for information about this species!
Best
~Jan
General background:
As with all „Tappies“, as they are called by most hobbyists, these are extremely agile and fast tarantulas, reaching beween 4“ to 5“. Although described as arboreals, these will behave much like Psalmopoeus spp. in captivity, constructing almost always a chamber underground their provided hides.
T. violaceus displays a very beautiful metallic-greenish carapace, purple abdomen and legs when adult – except for the toe-tips who look very dark, almost black. These do not have any urticating bristles and rely mainly on their speed and agility to escape dangerous situations.
Behavior:
Like already mentioned, these are true teleporters! This particular species seemingly isn't very defensive, though. Disturbances cause them to either run frantically around in their enclosure doing laps, or vanish immediately from sight into their hiding place. They are generally very skittish and it is highly advised to keep a catchcup ready when doing rehousings or maintenance / feedings at all times! Being very nervous, they don't necessarily make for the best display spider, although many calm down some to the extent of not disappearing on the slightest vibration felt.
My own AF „Saranyu“ sometimes even keeps sitting in her spot when I move her enclosure. It should be noted that this particular species seems to be very photosensitive and as such shouldn't be stressed out with shining a flashlight directly at them too often. My girl already freaks out when I turn on the main lights on the ceiling, instead of the one on the nightstand – so be reasonable.
Enclosure setup:
Tapinauchineus violaceus comes from the area around Cacao, south of the capital Cayenne in French Guiana. It's a tropical rainforest and the climate in that area is seldomly going below 21°C and peaks at around 26-27°C, with most humidity from December – July and least from August – November.
Picture of the habitat in that area: CLICKY
Village of Cacao: CLICKY
You can find a climate-diagram here: CLICKY
In captivity, these animals do well well between 20°-25°C, an enclosure size of (HeightxWidthxDepth) 10“x10“x10“ is sufficient for these and you can essentially even go down to 8“x8“ for adults since most max out around 4.5“ when adult. A hide in the form of a corkbark slab leaned against one side, or a corkbark-tube, will be used in most cases. Substrate-wise I'd either use cocofiber or eco-earth – personally I favorize the first. Provide them with around 3" since they will burrow to a degree usually. Some plastic-plants to achor webbing onto round out the setup. Although they hail from a rainforest region, the same rules as with Avicularia spp. apply: Good cross-ventilation makes for a happy Tappy! Water-dish should be provided and keeping the substrate slightly(!) moist for them works just fine.
Feeding:
Don't ever make the mistake of dropping a prey-item straight onto them! Chances are high you get an extremely freaked-out Tappie that will teleport around – and often out of the enclosure in which case you'll have fun trying to catch the bugger! Tappies catch prey very accurately and with tremendous speed – but they don't react too well to getting surprised by feeders! I've offered crickets, maelworms and even small superworms or locusts and she went after all of them. However, her personal favorite seem to be redrunner roaches and it's absolutely awesome to watch her catch 2-3 of those once the lid is closed!
Personally, I never had a problem with her when she was a tiny ~0.75“ spiderling – live prey in the form of pinheads or small crickets was taken down with gusto and no problems at all. It takes around 1-1.5 years to raise them to adul-hood with normal temps and feedings, so their growth-rate can be described as fast.
Toxicity:
Mild to moderate according to reports. While bites from members of the genus are reportedly painful (quite a few bitten subjects made the comparison to „feels like a red hot glowing nail, slowly driven into your skin and turned around“), the effects seemingly only last for a few hours with no systemic effects like vomitting or muscle cramps. The localized pain, swelling and at the most: Pain in the bitten extremity is apparently the worst about it. Still, these should be treated with respect, as escapes are likely to happen in case of irresponsible care.
Bottom line and personal opinion:
From all the Tappies available in the hobby, I favorize these for their beautiful looks. As long as the keeper is alert and careful when dealing with them, they're a great genus overall to keep. Newer keepers may want to try their hands on Avics first, since the speed of Tappies can be intimidating and problematic during rehousings, as well as making it easy for them to take a run for it and escape if not used to it. In addition, many are more on the defensive side. Other than that, great genus and species to keep with their fast growth-rate.
Some picture of my own female "Saranyu":
As sling:
Adult female at ~4.25"
Close-up:
In catchcup during cage-transfer:
With dud-sac:
Short vid I took mid 2013 of her:
Scientific Data taken from the World-Spider-Catalogue v17:
Taxonomic references
Ephebopus violaceusMello-Leitão, 1930b: 56, f. 4 (Df).
Avicularia violaceaLucas, Silva & Bertani, 1992: 163 (Tf from Ephebopus).
Tapinauchenius purpureusSchmidt, 1995c: 11, f. 1 (Dmf) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002485].
Tapinauchenius purpureusSchmidt, 2003l: 206, f. 617 (f).
Tapinauchenius purpureusPeters, 2005b: 111, f. 353-356 (f).
Tapinauchenius violaceusWest et al., 2008: 39, f. 21-22 (f, Sm).
As usual, if you find any errors feel free to correct them. Additional information is always appreciated, too! Hope this helps a few people looking for information about this species!
Best
~Jan
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