Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi)

Nov 27, 2016 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures in Guyana

The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is a spider belonging to the tarantula family Theraphosidae. Found in northern South America, it is the largest spider in the world.

Goliath-Birdeater

By leg-span, it is second to the giant huntsman spider, but it is the largest by mass.
It is also called the Goliath bird-eating spider; the practice of calling the raphosids “bird-eating” derives from an early 18th-century copper engraving by Maria Sibylla Merian that shows one eating a hummingbird. It only rarely preys on adult birds.
The goliath birdeater is native to the upland rain forest regions of northern South America: Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, northern Brazil and southern Venezuela.
Most noticeable is in the Amazon rainforest; the spider is terrestrial, living in deep burrows, and is found commonly in marshy or swampy areas. It is a nocturnal species. The spider is part of the local cuisine in northeastern South America, prepared by singeing off the urticating hairs and roasting it in banana leaves. The flavour has been described as “shrimplike”.
Unlike other species of spider/tarantula, females do not eat the males during mating.
Females mature in three to six years and have an average lifespan of 15 to 25 years. Males die soon after maturity and have a lifespan of three to six years. Colours range from dark to light brown with faint markings on the legs.
Birdeaters have hair on their bodies, abdomens, and legs. The female lays anywhere from 100 to 200 eggs, which hatch into spiderlings within two months.
These spiders can have a leg span of up to 28 cm (11 in), a body length of up to 11.9 cm (4.7 in) and can weigh up to 175 g (6.2 oz). Birdeaters are one of the few tarantula species that lack tibial spurs, located on the first pair of legs of most adult males.
In response to threats, Goliath birdeaters stridulate by rubbing setae on their pedipalps and legs. Also when threatened, they rub their abdomen with their hind legs and release hairs that are a severe irritant to the skin and mucous membranes. These urticating hairs can be harmful to humans, and the species is considered by some to have the most harmful tarantula urticating hair of all.
Like all tarantulas, T. blondi have fangs large enough to break the skin of a human (1.9–3.8 cm or 0.75–1.50 in). They carry venom in their fangs and have been known to bite when threatened, but the venom is relatively harmless and its effects are comparable to those of a wasp’s sting. Tarantulas generally bite humans only in self-defence, and these bites do not always result in envenomation (known as a “dry bite”).
Despite its name, it is rare for the Goliath birdeater to actually prey on birds; in the wild, its diet consists primarily of earthworms and toads. However, because of its size and opportunistic predatory behaviour, it is not uncommon for this species to kill and consume a variety of insects and small terrestrial vertebrates. In the wild, T. blondi has been observed feeding on rodents, frogs, toads, lizards, and even snakes. (Source: Wikipedia)

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