Guarani giant tarantula facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Guarani giant tarantula |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Grammostola
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| Species: |
grossa
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The Grammostola grossa, also known as the Guarani giant tarantula, is a type of tarantula. Like other spiders in the Grammostola group, it lives in South America. You can find it in countries like Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
An Austrian scientist named Anton Ausserer first described this spider in 1871. However, it only got its common name, the Guarani giant tarantula, much later in the 21st century. An anthropologist named Nils Seethaler gave it this name. The spider is very common in areas where the Guarani people live. Their farming and clearing of forests actually helped this tarantula spread its home.
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What Makes the Guarani Giant Tarantula Special?
This tarantula is one of the larger types of spiders. Its body can grow up to 8 centimeters long. That's about the length of a standard pen!
It has a dark black-brown body with brown hairs. Like all Grammostola spiders, it has special stinging hairs on its belly, called the opisthosoma. This is why they are sometimes called "bombardier spiders." They can brush off these hairs to protect themselves from danger. Female Guarani giant tarantulas can live for a very long time, sometimes up to 25 years!
How the Guarani Giant Tarantula Behaves
The Grammostola grossa is a bird spider that lives on the ground. It likes to hide in safe spots. You might find it under tree roots, pieces of bark, stones, or fallen leaves.
During colder times of the year, or when it's shedding its skin (molting), or taking care of its babies, it goes into burrows. These burrows are like little underground homes. The spider lines its burrow with its own spider silk to make it cozy and safe.
Human activities have actually helped this spider spread. Things like raising farm animals, growing crops, and cutting down trees change the land. Many of these spiders are now found in places like cattle pastures and at the edges of forests.
Keeping Guarani Giant Tarantulas as Pets
Many people enjoy keeping these tarantulas as pets in special enclosures called terrariums. They have been sold in pet stores since the 1980s.
When they first became popular, they were often sold under the wrong name, Grammostola pulchripes. But in 1994, a spider expert named Günter E. W. Schmidt correctly identified them as G. grossa. Sometimes, they were also mistakenly called Grammostola mollicoma, which is actually a different type of tarantula (Grammostola anthracina).
See also
In Spanish: Grammostola grossa para niños
