Bird-eating spider

Growing to a length of up to five inches (13 centimeters) with a legspan of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) the Goliath bird-eating spider is the largest species of tarantula. This spider is native to northern South America. This hairy beige ground-dwelling spider is called the bird-eating spider for its habit of feeding on nesting and roosting birds.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropdoa

Class: Arachnida

Order: Araneae

Family: Theraphosidae

Genus: Theraphos

Species: Blondi

Found along the dusty beige earth of northern South America, this bird-eating spider is the largest species of tarantula. Growing to a length of up to five inches (13 centimeters), the bird-eating spider is one of the largest land invertebrates, or animals without spines. The bird-eating spider may have a legspan of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) and may weigh up to six ounces (170 grams). This bird-eating spider is covered with a layer of coarse, light beige and brown hairs. These hairs are extremely sensitive to vibrations and help the bird-eating spider learn about its surroundings.

Like other spiders, the bird-eating spider is divided into two main parts. Those parts are the cephalothorax and the abdomen. The cephalothorax consists of the head and thorax, or mid-body section. This portion may also be called the prosoma.

The eight tiny eyes and the fangs are all located on the front portion of the bird-eating spider's cephalothorax. As a nocturnal, or night-active, creature the bird-eating spider uses its tiny eyes to distinguish between light and dark. The eight legs of the bird-eating spider are also attached to the lower portion of the cephalothorax.

Behind the cephalothorax is the rounded form of the abdomen. Most of the bird-eating spider's internal organs are located there. This portion of the body is also known as the opisthosoma.

As its name suggest, the bird-eating spider feeds on birds. Typically it feeds on nesting or roosting birds as well as frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, mice, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, woodlice, millipedes, and other spiders.

In spite of the size of this spider, many animals prey on the bird-eating spider. Many mammals dig into the burrows of the bird-eating spider and pluck the creature from its home. The tarantula hawk wasp, a spider-hunting wasp, is particularly dangerous. This wasp collects spiders to feed to its larval young. To defend itself the bird-eating spider may raise its body on its front legs and strike its attacker with its fangs. The bodily force of this spider often harms the victim more than the venom of the spider's fangs.

Like other desert living tarantulas, the bird-eating spider may take up to 10 years to become sexually mature. The bird-eating spider mates through direct fertilization. In this type of mating, the male releases his sperm directly into the female's body. Although this is common among spiders, not all arachnids mate through direct fertilization.

After mating, the female bird-eating spider lays her 100 to 200 eggs in a dug-out burrow. Typically, the eggs develop within six to eight weeks. After hatching, the young bird-eating spiders molt, or shed, their skin many times before transforming into their adult bodies.

The bird-eating spider may live to be between 15 and 25 years old. The Goliath bird-eating spider is endangered, like many tarantulas, due to habitat loss and pesticide use.

Bibliography

“Goliath Bird-Eating Spider.” San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers, 2024, sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/animals/goliath-bird-eating-spider. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.

“Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula - Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.” National Zoo, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/goliath-bird-eating-tarantula. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.