Aphonopelma seemanni

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 Rhechostica 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

References

• Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.

External links

• Caring for your Costa Rican Zebra
• Fact sheet
• Picture of a zebra tarantula