THE TARANTULA BY MIRIAM POULTON

(Theraposidae)

Containing the world’s largest spiders, the tarantula family is split into one
hundred and thirteen genera and eight hundred and ninety seven species.
They are generally very large and hairy, and in recent years have become
popular pets. They are found in most tropical and desert climates around the
world.

The name tarantula originally comes from the town of Taranto in Italy, where it
was originally used for the wolf spider, an unrelated species. They are also
called, in various places around the world, baboon spiders, earth tigers, bird-
eating spiders, barking spiders and whistling spiders.

Like all spiders, the tarantula is an invertebrate and has an exoskeleton which
it relies on for support. It has eight legs and eight semi-functional eyes. It has
three main parts, the head, the cephalothorax and the abdomen.

They have chelicerae, which they

use to grasp food and to inject
poison into victims. Most
tarantula bites are harmless to
humans, however, some are
known to cause extreme
discomfort to humans, but there
are no known fatalities caused by
tarantula bites. They have
spinnerets at the front of their
bodies. With these they are able
to create silk, which they use for
protecting themselves, their eggs
and for catching prey. This is originally in a liquid-type form but hardens when
it meets the air to form threads. Their bodies are usually anything between 2.5
and 10 centimetres long, while their legs can span up to 30 centimetres.

Their legs are split into seven segments, the coxa, trochanter, femur, patella,
tibia, tarsus and pretarsus, then they each end in two or three retractable
claws which they use for climbing. All of their legs are covered in short,
bristling hairs called scopula which also help them climb on smooth surfaces.

Tarantulas have only a tube-shaped mouth and they are only able to consume
food in a liquid form. Their stomach runs in a straight line through the length
of their body. Their brain is located near the bottom of the prosoma, which is
the fusing of the head and cephalothorax. Their most keen sense, despite their
number of eyes, is in fact their sense of touch due to the hairs that cover their
bodies.

All types of tarantulas have two pairs of “book lungs,” or breathing organs,
both in the abdomen. They are supplied by small slits in the body to either
side. Book lungs are made up with fifteen or so thin sheets of tissue- arranged
like the pages of a book, which are supplied with small blood vessels.

Like humans, tarantulas have an oxygen carrying protein, although this is

haemocyanin rather than haemoglobin and is based on copper. Their heart is a
long thin tube which is connected to the exoskeleton by ligaments. Blood is
pumped out of the heart by arteries and enters the heart again through small
slits in the surface called ostia.

Their central nervous system is located between the head and the
cephalothorax, where two small clusters of nerves radiate out to cover the rest
of the tarantula’s body.

The tarantulas have a complicated mating process. The male spins a web
which he leaves drops of sperm on it. He then collects these droplets and puts
them in his pedipalps –short, leg-like appendages near his mouth. He then
pursues the female. When found, he inserts these into her before running
away- females are known to eat the males after reproduction. The female
retains the sperm while she builds a partial cocoon and then drops eggs and
sperm into this cocoon where they are fertilized. Some species may also drop
hairs into the cocoon to ward off parasites, then they finish the cocoon. She
stands guard until the eggs (between five hundred and a thousand). They will
generally come out of the cocoon six to nine weeks later and then leave their
mothers two or three weeks later. While they are young, tarantulas go through
a process called moulting, where their entire body is rejuvenated, including
missing limbs, their exoskeleton, stomach lining, the book lungs and the
female reproductive organs. This will
happen to a tarantula generally once a
year until adulthood –although some
females will do it their entire lives.

Male tarantulas usually live between

six and eight years, while females will
live for anything between twenty and
sixty years. Males only survive one or
two years after mating. The largest
tarantula is the Goliath Bird-Eating
Spider, whose leg span can often
reach thirty centimetres. The Goliath Bird-Eating Spider
 Tarantulas use webs covered in a sticky substance to catch their prey. Some
may hide in burrows and use silken trip wires to catch prey and then come out
and deliver a bite. Tarantulas usually eat smaller prey such as crickets and
other insects, but are known to eat larger animals such as frogs, lizards and
bats. As their mouth does not allow them to eat prey whole, they use a mixture
of enzymes to liquidize it first. However, though they are fearsome predators,
younger tarantulas suffer threats from animals such as scorpions and wasps
that use their stings to paralyze the tarantulas before eating them. In general
though, the adults are quite safe from such attacks as their venom is
poisonous to larger animals that might be interested in eating them.

In recent years several species of tarantula have become popular pets. They
are in fact quite docile when tamed, do not hurt humans and are easy to care
for.

*******************************************