| Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Suborder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: | Theraphosidae |
| Genus: | Aphonopelma |
| Species: | A. seemanni |
| Binomial name | |
| Aphonopelma seemanni (F. O. P-Cambridge, 1897) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Eurypelma seemanni |
|
The Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula, also known as the Striped-knee Tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni), inhabits most of western Costa Rica, as well as other parts of Central America, such as Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It is black with white stripes near the joint. Specimens from Nicaragua are tan-coloured.
Zebra tarantulas are deep-burrowing spiders. They live in open semi-arid grasslands in Costa Rica, and are found in large aggregations. The deep burrows keep the temperature below the highest daytime temperatures, and retain humidity.
Zebra tarantulas can grow to about 10–13 cm including legspan. Females can live up to 20 years. Males however, tend to live a much shorter life of up to five years. Diet consists of many insects. In the wild, they will eat insects such as cockroaches. In captivity they will eat crickets.