| The Arkansas
chocolate
tarantula,
Aphonopelma baergi (formerly known as Dugesiella hentzi)
is Arkansas' only tarantula. Females of this hairy spider average
2" long, and males average a little over 1 1/2". The body and
legs
are uniformly dark brown. Tarantulas occur in dry, rocky glades,
where they inhabit silk-lined burrows in abandoned rodent or reptile
tunnels
or in other natural cavities. They plug their burrows for the
winter
months and emerge in spring. They may hunt at night, but
apparently
they prefer to remain in their burrows waiting for prey to come
by.
Crickets, June beetles, ground beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas, and
caterpillars
are favored dietary items. In June, gravid females, which had
mated
the previous autumn, begin constructing egg sacs for some 200 to 800
eggs.
They guard their egg sacs until the young have hatched and
departed.
The white spiderlings hatch in August and remain grouped around their
mother
for several days before dispersing. Spiderlings molt 2 to 4 times
each year for their first several years and only once each year
thereafter.
Males tend to wander in search of females in late summer and fall
(August
through November), and they are often found crossing roads.
Females
have been known to reach sexual maturity at 11 years and have lived as
long as 25 years in captivity. Males have have been known to
reach
sexual maturity in 10 years. Tarantula bites are not considered
particularly
dangerous. |
