| Blue Fang Skeleton Tarantula (Ephebopus cyanognathus (West & Marshall, 2000)) |
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Scientific name: Ephebopus cyanognathus (West & Marshall, 2000) Common name: Blue Fang Skeleton Tarantula French name: Tarentule aux crochets bleus, Crochets bleus. Order: Araneae Family: Theraphosidae Size: Leg span: 10 to 13 cm. Biotope: Humid forests. The spiders of the Ephebopus genus are ground-dwelling spiders that live in burrows in the adult stage. This is not the case for all other genera of the Aviculariinae subfamily which are mainly arboreal. Web: The burrow is lined with silk. Observation period: Geographic area: Guiana Shield, that's to say Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, north of Brazil. |
The Blue Fang Skeleton Tarantulas are a brownish black colour with paler orange hairs on the cephalothorax. The females' chelicerae are a beautiful deep metallic blue colour which is the origin of the species name. Those of males are reddish brown. The femora are black and the remaining parts of the legs are blackish brown. There is an orange joint between femora and tibiae. The spiderlings show a black cephalothorax. The abdomen is covered with green metallic hairs. The legs are orange with blackish tarsi. The chelicerae are metallic blue. |
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I have shot this picture at Matoury, while walking along the Mirande footpath. I have thought, at first, being back from French Guiana without having observed any tarantula (though having seen a multitude of burrows). It's just by reading documentation that I realized having photographed a juvenile one. I have read that if adult Blue Fang Skeleton Tarantulas are ground-dwelling, young spiders are a little arboreal. This is consistent with this observation done on low growing vegetation. I would have liked to see the blue chelicerae to be absolutely sure of the identification of the species. |
André Bon June 2014