Tarantula

Biodiversity
of Belize
Britney Free
Missouri Southern State
University
What Is a Tarantula?
1. Araneae – All spiders

3. Opisthothelae – The two spider lineages

4. Mygalomorphae – Trapdoor, baboon and

funnel spiders, tarantulas, and their kin

6. Avicularoidea

7. Theraphosoidina - Includes the typically large

and hirsute tarantulas and baboon spiders

https://peerj.com/articles/1719/#fig-1
Common Characteristics of Theraphosidae
 Tarantula's are characterized by their stocky appearance and the hairy
body and legs. A more technical characteristic are the fangs that are
parallel (pointing backward)
An Introduction to the
Tarantulas of Belize
Tliltocatl vagans (Ausserer, 1875)
 Common Name: Mexican Red Rump Tarantula
 Previously Brachypelma vagans
 Old wives’ tale
 Mayan traditional medicine

Adam84 – INaturalist
 C. meermani
Citharacanthus
meermani (Reichling &
West, 2000)
 Only found in the Cayo and Stann Creek
Districts of Belize.
 But recently, David Ortiz and Eddy
Jmeerman – INaturalist
Hijmensen claim to have found this
species near the Naj Tunich cave, C. livingstoni
Poptun, Peten, Guatemala.
 At higher elevations such as in the
Mountain Pine Ridge Citharacanthus
meermani is the dominant if not only,
species. But at even higher elevation in
Southern Belize the species is replaced by
the similar C. livingstoni.

jsatler – INaturalist
 P. maya
Psalmopoeus maya (Witt,
1996)
 Arboreal Tarantulas are quite rare in Belize and only
two species have been recorded so far (The second
species is P.reduncus, the "Costa Rican Orange Mouth")

P. reduncus

jsatler – INaturalist
Jan Meerman
Crassicrus Lamanai
(Reichling & West, 1996)
 This is a fairly common species on the lowlands of
Belize. Although it was described as a new species only
recently, the species was already fairly well know in the
pet trade.
 Reichlingia annae (Rudloff, 2001)

 Originally placed with the brushed trapdoor

spiders, it was moved to the tarantula family in
2014
 Previously Acanthopelma annae

Jmeerman – INaturalist
Identification
Spider Illustration: Dippenaar-Shoeman, A. S.
and Jocque, R.1997. African Spiders. An
Identification Manual. Plant Protection
Research Institute, Handbook No.9. 392 pp.
 Sexing Tarantulas
 For species recognition it is important to know whether the specimen before you is a male or a
female. Females usually have a larger abdomen but that is not always a fail-safe character.

Jan Meerman Most male Tarantula species in Belize can be recognized by

the paired tibial spur on the tibia of leg I (see picture to the
left). These spurs serve to immobilize the fangs of the
female during courtship.

Another characteristic of adult males is also related to reproduction. At the tip of the palps
is a structure called the embolus. It looks a bit like the stinger of a scorpion (picture to the
right) but smaller and not intended to sting. Instead, it is the instrument with which the
male deposits his sperm in the female. The emboli in each Tarantula species are different
and are an important tool in species recognition.
Jan Meerman
 Narrowing Things Down
 Species recognition itself is more difficult. The three common species
in Belize are similar in size and their color is variable enough to be
confusing.
 A good field character is the tibia of the 4th pair of legs. (hindmost legs).
 Unfortunately, in males distinctions are somewhat less obvious.

Jan Meerman
Citharacanthus meermani (top) and of a
female Crassicrus lamanai (bottom)
Threats and Conservation
Works Cited
 Garrison, Nicole L., et al. “Spider Phylogenomics: Untangling the Spider Tree of Life.” PeerJ, PeerJ
Inc., 23 Feb. 2016, https://peerj.com/articles/1719/#fig-1.
 Machkour-M'Rabet, Salima, et al. “A Case of Zootherapy with the Tarantula Brachypelma Vagans
Ausserer, 1875 in Traditional Medicine of the Chol Mayan Ethnic Group in Mexico - Journal of
Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.” BioMed Central, BioMed Central, 30 Mar. 2011,
https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-4269-7-12.
 Jorge Mendoza, Oscar Francke, Systematic revision of Mexican threatened tarantulas Brachypelma
(Araneae: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae), with a description of a new genus, and implications on the
conservation, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 188, Issue 1, January 2020, Pages 82–
147, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz046
 Schmidt, G.E.W. & Weinmann, D. (1996). "Eine weitere Citharacanthus-Species aus Guatemala
Citharacanthus livingstoni sp. n. (Araneida: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae)". Arachnologisches
Magazin (in German). 4 (3): 1–11.
Works Cited Cont.
 Meerman, Jan. “Tarantula Spiders from Belize.” Biodiversity in Belize - Tarantula's, Biological-
Diversity.info, 4 Sept. 2016, http://biological-diversity.info/tarantula.htm.
 Rudloff, J.-P. (2001). "Anmerkungen zur systematischen Stellung von Acanthopelma rufescens
F.O.P.-Cambridge, 1897 und Acanthopelma annae Reichling, 1997 (Ischnocolinae: Theraphosidae:
Mygalomorphae), sowie die Einrichtung einer neuen Gattung Reichlingia gen. nov.
(Mygalomorphae: Barychelidae: Trichopelmatinae)". Arthropoda. 9 (3): 14–20.