Tarantula spider: photo, description of species, habitat, food, enemies

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Some people shudder at one photo of this creature, while others keep it at home as a pet. The species is one of the most famous venomous spiders. They are often confused with tarantulas, which is wrong, because the tarantula spider is much smaller. Despite popular belief, the creature's venom is not fatal to humans.

Origin of the species and description

Photo: Tarantula spider

The genus Lycosa comes from the wolf spider family. The name of the species originated in the Renaissance. In the past, Italian cities were infested with these arachnids, which is why many bites were reported, accompanied by convulsions. The disease was called tarantism. Most of the bites were recorded in the city of Taranto, where the name of the spider came from.

Interesting fact: To recover, medieval healers instructed patients to dance until they dropped the Italian tarantella dance, which also originated in Taranto, located in southern Italy. Doctors believed that only this would save those bitten from death. There is a version that all this was arranged for feasts hidden from the eyes of the authorities.

The genus belongs to the phylum arthropods and has 221 subspecies. The most famous of them is the Apulian tarantula. In the 15th century, its poison was believed to cause madness and a variety of epidemiological diseases. It has now been proven that the toxin has no effect on humans. The South Russian tarantula lives in Russia and Ukraine and is known for its black cap.

Interesting fact: The species Lycosa aragogi, found in Iran, is named after the huge spider Aragog from the books about the young wizard “Harry Potter”.

In many European languages, the word tarantula refers to tarantulas. This leads to confusion when translating texts from foreign languages, in particular from English. In modern biology, groups of tarantulas and tarantulas do not intersect. The former belong to araneomorphic spiders, the latter to mygalomorphic ones.

Report No. 2

A tarantula is a spider that uses its web only to arrange the walls in its burrow where in the future it will begin hunting or its female will lay eggs, which is considered dangerous for people, but in fact represents a real danger only for animals.
Where does the tarantula live?

The tarantula lives and builds burrows for caring for offspring and hunting, in dry ones without a single hint of moisture; when it finds this place, it begins to build a burrow about 60 centimeters deep, the walls of which are then reinforced with its cobwebs. At night, the spider leaves its burrow into the desert or steppe and begins to hunt.

What does a spider eat?

The spider most often begins its hunt at night; it either sits in a burrow waiting for prey or moves freely around the area. Now the prey is already nearby, the tarantula attacks and injects poison into the body, thereby either paralyzing or killing the prey. Most often, the tarantula feeds on not too large insects, such as mole crickets, ground beetles, crickets, cockroaches, beetles, caterpillars and others.

Types of tarantulas.

In total, about 221 species of tarantulas are known, for example:

• Spanish tarantula
• Brazilian tarantula

These are just a few, they differ only slightly in appearance, but are approximately similar in characteristics, but the most popular species are considered to be the South Russian tarantula and the Apulian tarantula, which reaches approximately 6 - 7 centimeters in length.

Reproduction.

Towards the end of summer, the female tarantula tries to find a suitable hole, when she finds it, she lays eggs and wraps them in a web, which she carries with her, after the young tarantulas hatch, some of them remain in the female tarantula’s abdomen.

Bite.

In general, a tarantula’s bite is dangerous only for animals; humans are not in danger of anything fatal, and its bite in terms of pain can be compared to a hornet’s sting and at most can cause swelling, but nothing more. And the antidote to his poisonous saliva is contained in his hemolymph.

History of the name.

Where did this name come from? Once upon a time in the city of Toronto it was generally accepted that the bite of such a spider led to illness, a strange disease, Tarantism, and as people believed there was only one way to recover from a terrible, deadly disease - this was to perform a ritual by dancing the unusual dance Tarantella, but as it turned out later, everything These rituals took place not because of a fatal disease, which turned out to be false, but only in order to hold a feast, which the government did not approve of at that time, but after all this the name of the spider never changed.

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Appearance and features

Photo: Poisonous tarantula spider

The entire body of the spider is covered with small hairs. The structure of the body is divided into two main parts - the abdomen and the cephalothorax. There are 4 pairs of eyes on the head, 2 of which are small and arranged in a straight line, the rest form a trapezoid by their arrangement.

Video: Tarantula spider

This placement allows you to see everything around in a 360-degree view. In addition to a well-developed visual apparatus, tarantulas have a hypersensitive sense of smell. This gives them the opportunity to smell prey at fairly large distances.

The sizes of arthropods are quite large:

• body length - 2-10 cm;
• leg length - 30 cm;
• females weigh up to 90 g.

Like other insects, female spiders are significantly larger than males. Throughout their lives, individuals molt several times. The more often this happens, the faster they age. On four pairs of long, hairy legs, the spider moves comfortably across sand or water surfaces. The forelimbs of males are more developed than those of females.

Interesting fact: The limbs can only bend, so the wounded individual becomes weak and vulnerable. The legs bend thanks to the flexor muscles, and extend under the pressure of the hemolymph. The skeleton of arachnids is also weak, so any fall could be their last.

Chelicerae (mandibles) are equipped with poisonous ducts. Thanks to them, arthropods can defend themselves or attack. The color of spiders is usually gray, brown or black. Sexual dimorphism is well developed. American tarantulas are considered the largest. Their European counterparts are significantly smaller in size.

a brief description of

The misgir (what it is in the fauna world) can be briefly described as follows: a large poisonous spider, belonging to the araneomorphic species (“wolf spiders”), which will not attack a person first if it is not disturbed.

Mizgiri are often exterminated for their resemblance to dangerous recluse spiders.

External characteristics of mizgir:

• the body is brown-red, spotted above, almost black below. If the Mizgir has not shed for a long time, then its color on top becomes completely red;
• the whole body and legs are densely covered with hairs - with their help the spider catches vibrations of the earth and air. For example, it recognizes human steps within 10-15 m;
• male size – up to 25 mm, female – up to 30 mm;
• There are 8 eyes located on the cephalothorax, and in such a way that the misgir is provided with a full view: 4 in front, 2 behind them, and 2 more a little further away. The spider distinguishes colors and recognizes silhouettes.

The identification mark of the South Russian Mizgir is a black spot on the cephalothorax, which resembles a skullcap.

Where does the tarantula spider live?

Photo: Tarantula spider from the Red Book

The habitats of the species are represented by a wide range - the southern part of Eurasia, North Africa, Australia, Central and Asia Minor, America. Representatives of the genus can be found in Russia, Portugal, Italy, Ukraine, Spain, Austria, Mongolia, Romania, and Greece. Arthropods choose arid areas to live.

They live mainly in:

• deserts;
• steppes;
• semi-deserts;
• forest-steppes;
• gardens;
• vegetable gardens;
• on the fields;
• meadows;
• along the banks of rivers.

Tarantulas are heat-loving arachnids, so they cannot be found in cold northern latitudes. Individuals are not particularly picky about their habitats, so they even live in saline steppes. Some manage to get into houses. Distributed in Turkmenistan, the Caucasus, Southwestern Siberia, and Crimea.

Most predatory spiders prefer to live in burrows that they dig themselves. They choose the location for their future home very carefully. The depth of vertical burrows can reach 60 centimeters. They move the pebbles to the side and rake out the soil with their paws. The walls of the tarantula's shelter are covered with cobwebs. It vibrates and allows you to assess the situation outside.

At the end of autumn, spiders prepare for wintering and deepen their homes to a depth of 1 meter. The entrance to the hole is plugged with leaves and branches. In the spring, animals crawl out of the house and drag the web behind them. If it suddenly breaks, there is a high probability that the animal will no longer find its shelter and will have to dig a new hole.

Now you know where the tarantula spider lives. Let's see what the poisonous spider eats.

Habitat

Mink places are rural and suburban areas, hills, fields. He is often a dangerous neighbor to people. The depth of planting potatoes is equal to the depth of the hole. While collecting culture, you can stumble upon the shelter of an arthropod.

Mizgir prefers desert, semi-desert and steppe climates. This species is distributed over a wide area. Most favorite regions:

• Asia Minor and Central Asia;
• south of Russia;
• Ukraine;

• south of Belarus;
• Far East;
• Türkiye.

What does the tarantula spider eat?

Photo: Tarantula spider in Russia

Tarantulas are real predators. They wait for their victims from an ambush, and then quickly pounce on them.

The diet of arthropods includes many insects and amphibians:

• Zhukov;
• caterpillars;
• cockroaches;
• mole cricket;
• crickets;
• ground beetles;
• small frogs.

Having caught prey, the arachnids inject their poison into it, thereby paralyzing it. When the poison begins to act, the victim's internal organs turn into a liquid substance, which after some time the tarantulas suck out like a cocktail.

Typically, predators select prey according to their size and spread out their food intake over several days. Individuals can go without food for a long time, but having a constant source of water is a must. There is a known case where a female tarantula was able to go without food for two years.

Near the burrow, arachnids pull signal threads. As soon as they feel that someone is crawling past their home, they immediately crawl out and grab the prey. If the prey turns out to be large, the predator jumps back and jumps on it again to bite it again.

If the prey tries to retreat, the spider chases it for up to half an hour, occasionally inflicting new bites. All this time he tries to stay at a safe distance from the victim. Usually at the end of the battle the animal gets its way and gets a well-deserved lunch.

Clean

South Russian tarantulas are hunters. Their food is everything that runs along the surface of the soil, but does not greatly exceed the size of the spider itself: beetles, flies, mosquitoes, midges, caterpillars, worms, ground beetles. But the tarantulas themselves are lucky, few people like to feast on them. Except for wasps and birds.

Mizgiri, like all arachnids, have extraintestinal digestion. They attack the victim, once within jumping distance, and approach silently and unnoticed. The poison is deftly injected along with the contents of the midgut, immobilizing the prey. Then the spider sucks the liquid from the victim’s body, like a cocktail from a straw. And what he doesn’t finish, he throws away away from himself. Sort of a neat guy.

Another feature of the South Russian tarantula is that it does not weave a web for hunting. It is needed only to protect the home - it seals the entrance from unwanted guests. The spider lives in a hole up to 50 cm deep. It spends time in it during the day, and from it it tracks down unwary living creatures. Mizgir rarely goes far from the hole, he does not like to be active much and is poorly oriented in space.

Features of character and lifestyle

Photo: Tarantula spider

Tarantulas, unlike their counterparts, do not spin webs. They are active hunters and prefer to catch prey on their own. They use webs as traps to find out about a beetle or other insect running past. Weaves can warn of approaching danger.

The arthropods sit in the hole all day, and in the evening they emerge from the shelter to hunt. With the onset of cold weather, they seal the entrance to their cave and hibernate. Among the individuals there are real long-livers. Some subspecies can exist up to 30 years. The main part of the species lives on average 3-10 years. Females have a longer lifespan.

The growth of the spider does not stop at any stage of development. Therefore, their exoskeleton changes several times as they grow older. This allows the animal to regrow lost limbs. With the next moult, the leg will grow back, but will be much smaller than the rest of the limbs. After the next molt, it will reach normal size.

Interesting fact: Spiders mostly move on the ground, but sometimes they climb trees or other objects. Tarantulas have claws on their paws, which they, like cats, extend to have better grip on the surface on which they climb.

Danger

All types of tarantulas are poisonous. The poison lies in the glands located in the cephalothorax and opening at the top of the tentacles-mandibles, with which the spider pierces the skin of its prey in order to then suck it out. Tarantulas do not attack humans on their own, but if they are teased, especially females wearing an egg cocoon or having young spiders on them, jump up and can bite a person.

For humans, a tarantula bite is never fatal, but causes swelling and pain in the bitten area. In addition, sometimes the skin turns yellow and remains that way for quite a long time (up to 2 months). There is no reliable information about the fatal outcome for humans from a tarantula bite.

Social structure and reproduction

Photo: Poisonous tarantula spider

The period of sexual activity occurs in the last month of summer. The male weaves a web, after which he begins to rub his belly against it. This provokes ejaculation of seminal fluid, which flows onto the web. The male plunges his pedipalps into it, which absorb sperm and become ready for fertilization.

Next comes the stage of searching for a female. Having found a suitable candidate, the male emits vibrations with his abdomen and performs ritual dances, which attracts females. They lure out hiding females by tapping their paws on the ground. If the partner reciprocates, the spider inserts its pedipalps into her cloaca and fertilization occurs.

Then the male quickly retreats so as not to become food for his chosen one. The female weaves a cocoon in the hole in which she lays eggs. Their number can reach 50-2000 pieces at a time. The female carries the offspring on herself for another 40-50 days. The hatched babies move from the mother's abdomen to the back and remain there until they are able to hunt on their own.

The spiderlings grow quickly and soon begin to taste the prey caught by their mother. After the first moult they scatter. By 2-3 years, predators become sexually mature. During this period, arthropods lose their instinct of self-preservation and are easy to meet in broad daylight.

Is it possible to reproduce

Sexual maturity in females occurs 1.5-2 years later than in males. If for males this is 1.5-2 years, then for females it is 4-5 years. The mating period begins at the end of summer. After mating, the male usually dies, and the female begins to prepare for the winter. Female tarantulas lay eggs and place them in a silk cocoon, which is attached to the outside of the abdomen. “Gestation” lasts 40-50 days. During this period, under natural conditions, the female tries to be in the sun more often in order to speed up the incubation process, but at home it is worth increasing the temperature in the terrarium to +30...+32 °C.

A clutch can contain from 50 to 500 eggs. After the incubation period is completed, the little spiderlings remain with their mother for another month, sometimes covering her entire body. After the expiration of a month, the babies leave the female and begin to lead an adult lifestyle. There are cases when the female herself drives away the young or even eats some part of it, so the babies need to be weaned on time.

Well, now you have the necessary knowledge on how to properly keep a tarantula at home, let this knowledge be useful to you, and remember: we are responsible for those we have tamed.

Among the wolf spiders there are interesting, surprising representatives. For some, their appearance is terrifying, while for others, on the contrary, they seem incredibly beautiful. Large araneomorphic venomous spiders called tarantulas

They are an incredibly beautiful furry creature, which in the old days was considered poisonous and dangerous to humans.

Tarantula tarantula

A lot has changed since then. It has been proven that tarantulas are not too dangerous for humanity, but this does not stop some people from looking at them with caution. Just the sight of it makes you shiver involuntarily, even in the photo of a tarantula.

Tarantula bite

although not fatal, it can cause some trouble. After it, the victim may experience a feverish state.

Sometimes, judging by numerous literary descriptions, the aggressive behavior of these spiders was noticed. But this does not mean that such behavior is characteristic of all their representatives.

Tarantula bite

In fact, they live more according to the law - “don’t touch me, and I won’t touch you.” And to a greater extent they can bite only for the purpose of self-defense. By the way, according to eyewitnesses, the bite of these spiders resembles a wasp bite. They do not produce such a large amount of toxins that could negatively affect the health of a person who has been bitten.

Natural enemies of tarantula spiders

Photo: Black tarantula spider

The tarantula has quite a few enemies. The main culprits in the death of arthropods are birds, since they are part of the diet of birds. Wasps encroach on the life of arachnids, just as spiders do with their victims. They inject poison into the tarantula's body, paralyzing the predator.

They then lay eggs inside the spider. Parasites live and develop, after which they get out. Natural enemies include some types of ants and mantises, which are not at all picky about food and eat everything that moves. Frogs and lizards are not averse to eating tarantulas.

The most dangerous enemy is still the same spider. Arthropods tend to eat each other. A female, during the process of fertilization, can encroach on the life of a male individual, like a female praying mantis, or eat her offspring if she cannot trap some insect.

There is continuous hostility between tarantulas and mole crickets. Their habitats overlap. Mole crickets dig the soil, where spiders often climb. Sometimes individuals manage to escape. Wounded or molting arthropods usually become food for the enemy.

In general, the population suffers most in early spring. When lethargic and sleepy arachnids crawl out of their shelters, the mole cricket is right there. Sometimes they climb into spider holes and attack tarantulas with their forelimbs, delivering heavy blows. When the spider loses a lot of blood, the mole cricket eats it.

Interesting facts about the Cornerot jellyfish

There are several interesting facts about it, but the main one is that some types of these animals are eaten by people. For example, the edible sawweed (from the Latin Rhopilema esculenta) is considered a popular species. This jellyfish is part of the national dishes of Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

Another interesting fact is that such meat is not consumed in its pure form. Jellyfish are usually added to various salads, which are subsequently flavored with a huge amount of all kinds of seasonings.

Cornerot is harmless as long as it is not disturbed. However, as soon as the animal feels irritated, the tentacles will immediately release poison that can cause a serious burn.

Watch a video about a poisonous jellyfish in the Black Sea:

Population and species status

Photo: Tarantula spider

Tarantulas are most common in forest-steppe, steppe and desert areas. Their numbers are gradually decreasing every year, but over the past ten years, wolf spiders have managed to stop the process of population decline and even stabilize it. Climate warming has had a beneficial effect on this.

One of the main reasons for the decline in arthropod numbers is commercial activity. In third world countries, arachnids are caught in order to sell them for little money and earn food. In countries with less developed economies, there has been a significant decline in the number of tarantulas.

From 1995 to 2004 in the Republic of Tatarstan, the species was recorded in the Nizhnekamsk, Elabuga, Zelenodolsk, Tetyushsky, Chistopol, and Almetyevsk regions, where its appearance was recorded from 3 to 10 times. Mostly, individuals are found alone.

Tropical forests are being cut down at a significant rate due to population growth. In Bolivia and Brazil, artisanal methods of gold and diamond mining are used, which destroys the soil. Water is pumped underground, as a result of which the integrity of the earth's surface is damaged. This, in turn, leads to negative consequences for the existence of the animal world.