sobota, 7 maja 2011

Spiders - The Goliath bird-eater Spider (Theraphosa blondi)


The Goliath bird-eater Spider (also called the Goliath Birdeater) (Theraphosa blondi) is an arachnid belonging to the tarantula group, Theraphosidae, and is considered to be the second largest spider in the world (by leg-span; second to the Giant huntsman spider), and they may be the biggest by mass. The spider was named by explorers from the Victorian era, who witnessed one eating a hummingbird.
The colouration is yellowish-brown with several irregularly distributed dark spots on the rear half. The legs have wide dark bands before the first bend. Like all huntsman spiders, the legs of the giant huntsman spider are long compared to the body, and twist forward in a crab-like fashion.
Apart from its size, the H. maxima can be distinguished from other species of Heteropoda (also known as Huntsman spiders) by genital characteristics: On males, the cymbium is much longer than usual, at least three times longer than the tegulum. The female is distinguished by a characteristically shaped epigyneal field with two anterior directed bands, and the course of their internal ducts.

17 komentarzy:

  1. I think your really helping me cure my arachnophobia, I was thinking if you could add the potential sizes of the spiders in inches or cms or something?

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  2. For something that can eat a bird its pretty cute

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  3. a beautiful creation from GOD. nature never ceases to impress me.

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  4. The Goliath sure deserves its name

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  5. Not sure if its the pic or if its actually massive

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  6. Wait, bird-eater?! Holly crap, never thought that a spider could eat a freaking bird!

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  7. this blog scares me! I don't know why I follow it!

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  8. God that massive image just made me recoil from the monitor

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  9. I want to breed one with the specific purpose of riding it into the sunset as we trample whole cities.

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  10. Bet that huge thing could eat an ostrich!

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  11. I once hold it in my hand.... nah, I'm kidding, they didn't let me, but I wanted to! it's an awesome spider.

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  12. Okay this is really creepy, I mean it eats birds for crying out loud but it looks fuzzy. :P

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