Range:

Talcahuano, Chile

Habitat:

Coastal Rainforest  

Coloration:

Its background color is a rich brown, amply flecked with cream-colored hairs which have a pink tinge.  

Habits:

The Chilean rose-haired or Chilean beautiful tarantula is a ground-dwelling burrowing spider. Its disposition is less docile and more unpredictable than the Mexican red-leg. Unlike the "true spiders", members of the sub-order Orthognatha have jaws that open vertically and strike downward into their prey, much like a snake or a cat.

Spiders do not eat solid foods; instead they inject a digestive enzyme into their prey that rapidly breaks down the tissues of internal organs into a liquid state. Small teeth at the bases of the pedipalps will crush the exoskeleton of their prey to more rapidly pour these enzymes on to the soft inner parts. The liquid food is then drawn into the esophagus by the pumping action of what is called the sucking stomach.  Tarantulas have no nose or taste buds. They instead use chemical receptors present on their pedipalps to distinguish between their proper foods and other liquids. T

hey also do not have a sense of hearing. However, they can detect the slightest air movements within their immediate environment through the sensitive hairs found all over their body. Touch is certainly the tarantula's most important sense.  

Tarantulas do not possess a trachea as seen in the true spiders. Instead, they breathe using a primitive apparatus known as the book lungs. The book lungs are so called because in the chamber that houses them, the lamellae are stacked in the manner of pages in a book. They are not exposed to the air directly but receive it via a short tube that is situated just anterior to the genital opening. It is believed that air oxygenates the blood by diffusion alone because breathing movements have not been observed in spiders. This means that they cannot increase their oxygen intake during times of greater oxygen demand, as can most animals.  

The molting process of large spiders is one of their most interesting characteristics. Generally speaking, the large spiders molt about four times a year for the first two years of their life, two times a year for the next four years and about once a year every year after that. To molt, the spider spins a sheet web, crawls on it and turns onto its back. The blood pressure increases which causes the exoskeleton to split at the front edge. The tear continues around the carapace producing an opening that the spider backs out of. The spider then lays on its side and pulls out each leg, one at a time. The entire molting process takes about half a day to complete. For several days after a molt the spider grows until the exoskeleton hardens. The exoskeleton left behind looks just like the spider itself.  

Diet:

The diet consists of insects, other spiders, lizards, small snakes, mice, toads and occasionally nestling birds.  

General comments:

As with our other spiders, we will only show the rose-hair in a container. Not only does this lessen the stress on the spider, it will also help to insure that it is never dropped. A tarantula's abdomen is very easily ruptured, so a fall of even a foot or two can kill if its legs are not positioned to cushion its fall.  

Similar species:

The sub-order Orthognatha is made up of eleven families of spiders, including the Theraphosinae, that are often grouped together and called the mygalomorph spiders. One of the closely related species in the same family is the orange knee or painted tarantula. Others in the same sub-order include all of the trapdoor spiders and the purse web spiders.