What is a tarantula?
A: Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the
family Theraphosidae.
How many species have been identified?
A: 1039, with 156 genera.
The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe
members of what family?
A: Theraphosidae, although many other members of the same infraorder (Mygalomorphae)
are commonly referred to as "tarantulas" or "false tarantulas".
Some of the more common species have become popular in
what?
A: The exotic pet trade.
Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate
that relies on what for muscular support?
A: An exoskeleton.
Like other Arachnida, a tarantula's body comprises what
two main parts?
A: The prosoma (or cephalothorax) and the opisthosoma (or abdomen).
Tarantula sizes can range from as small as the size of
a BB pellet to as large as what?
A: A dinner plate when the legs are fully extended.
Depending on the species, what is the range of the body
length of tarantulas?
A: It ranges from about 5 to 11 cm (2 to 4+1⁄2 in), with leg spans of 8–30
cm (3–12 in).
How is leg span determined?
A: By measuring from the tip of the back leg to the tip of the front leg on
the opposite side.
Some of the largest species of tarantula may weigh how
much?
A: Over 85 g (3 oz).
Most species of North American tarantulas are what
color?
A: Brown.
Their natural habitats include what?
A: Savanna, grassland such as in the pampas,
rainforest, desert, scrubland,
mountains, and cloud forest.
They are burrowers that live where?
A: In the ground.
They also don't use their webs for hunting, instead
using them for what?
A: As building material or tripwire.
Tarantula fangs face downwards, as opposed to those of
true spiders, which do what?
A: Face each other, allowing them to make pincerlike motions.
The spider originally bearing the name tarantula was
what?
A: A lycosa tarantula, a species of
wolf spider native to Mediterranean
Europe.
The name is derived from what?
A: The southern Italian town of Taranto.
Tarantulas of various species occur where?
A: Throughout the United States, Mexico, in Central America, and throughout
South America.
Some genera of tarantulas hunt prey primarily in trees;
others hunt where?
A: On or near the ground.
All tarantulas can produce what?
A: Silk; while arboreal species typically reside in a silken "tube tent",
terrestrial species line their burrows with silk to stabilize the burrow
wall and facilitate climbing up and down.
What do tarantulas mainly eat?
A: Large insects and other arthropods such as centipedes, millipedes, and
other spiders, using ambush as their primary method of prey capture.
The biggest tarantulas sometimes kill and consume what?
A: Small vertebrates such as lizards, mice, bats, birds, and small snakes.
