Can Grammostolas stridulate?

[Moakmeister]

"What? Grammostola? The gentle giants that are perfect for beginners?"
Well, I've heard from a few sources that the Grammostola genus can stridulate. A few people on these forums claim that rosea/porteri can do it, and this link http://www.theraphosidae.cz/imagestar/grapul1.htm claims to have a microscope image of stridulatory hairs on pulchripes. Anthracina can apparently do it too. If they CAN stridulate, it would have to be pretty rare, so can they? And have you ever seen one do it?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

They can, but that doesn't mean they do. All Grammostola species have stridulatory bristles.

 

[Moakmeister]

They can, but that doesn't mean they do. All Grammostola species have stridulatory bristles.

thats awesome. I always thought that only very defensive species could do it.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

thats awesome. I always thought that only very defensive species could do it.

Many tarantula genera have stridulatory setae of some kind. The type and location is most often used to distinguish different genera from each other.

Although I may have been too hasty in saying that all Grammostola species have it. I'm going off of memory here and I vaguely remember a couple of species not in the pet trade that don't. The ones most often seen in the hobby though do (pulchra, pulchripea, rosea, porteri).

 

[Moakmeister]

Many tarantula genera have stridulatory setae of some kind. The type and location is most often used to distinguish different genera from each other.

Although I may have been too hasty in saying that all Grammostola species have it. I'm going off of memory here and I vaguely remember a couple of species not in the pet trade that don't. The ones most often seen in the hobby though do (pulchra, pulchripea, rosea, porteri).

When you really thinking about it, shouldn't all tarantulas be able to do it? They all have hair on their legs. Almost every tarantula makes a buzzing or whizzing noise when they walk, so why do they need a special type of hair to do it? When I rub the hairs on my arm, it makes a hissing noise.

 

[DonnaG]

Oh my gosh! My male Grammostola pulchra just stridulated at me! I had cage door open and was taking a picture when this really weird loud sound like a bird chirping quickly came at me! Freaked me out! I wish I had my video on so I could have picked up the sound. That was incredible.