Three New Tarantula Species Discovered in South America

Brazilian taxonomists have discovered and described three new species of the ‘bird-eating’ tarantula genus Avicularia from Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.

Avicularia merianae, female. Image credit: H.-W. Auer.

The description is published in a new issue of the journal ZooKeys, authored by Dr. Caroline Sayuri Fukushima and Dr. Rogério Bertani, researchers in the Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution at the Instituto Butantan in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Even though these harmless tarantulas have long been a favorite exotic pet around the world, their identity has remained problematic ever since the first species, the pinktoe tarantula (Aranea avicularia), was described back in 1758 by the father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778),” the scientists explained.

“He described the species based on a hodgepodge of spiders. Over the next centuries, other species with completely different characteristics were called Avicularia creating a huge mess.”

“As a result, basic questions, such as the characteristic traits of the genus, the number of its species and their localities, have been left unanswered.”

To address the confusion, Dr. Fukushima and Dr. Bertani studied both newly collected specimens and also specimens from museum collections.

The authors concluded that, instead of the 49 species previously assigned to the genus Avicularia, there are in fact only 12 species, including three new to science: Avicularia merianae, A. lynnae, and A. caei.

Avicularia merianae is known from the department of San Martín, Peru.

“It is named after Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717), the German-born naturalist who drew the famous engraving of a specimen of Avicularia eating a bird, in recognition to her importance for Natural Sciences,” the researchers explained.

“This extraordinary woman was one of the pioneering female scientists and a remarkable artist.”

The second newly discovered species, Avicularia lynnae, occurs in Ecuador and Peru.

“This species is named after Lynn West, wife of mygalomorph expert Rick West,” the authors said.

Avicularia lynnae, male from department of Loreto, Peru. Image credit: R.C. West.

The third new species, Avicularia caei, is known only from type locality in the Brazilian state of Pará.

“This species is named after Carlos Eduardo Gurgel Paiola, aka Caê, in honor to his continuous support to one of the author,” the scientists said.

“People think all biologists are like Indiana Jones, with their daily lives full of adventures in the wild. But most of the time, they are much more like Sherlock Holmes – sitting on a chair, collecting and analyzing clues (specimens and scientific papers) and then using logical reasoning to solve Nature’s mysteries,” Dr. Fukushima said.

“We, taxonomists, are ‘wildlife detectives’ who play an essential role not only in biology and conservation,” she added.

“Our work can also become the grounds for new technologies, medicines and ideas that could solve a variety of problems.”

Avicularia caei, preserved male. Detail: lateral abdomen; arrow indicating stripes. Image credit: C.S. Fukushima.

In the same ZooKeys paper, Dr. Fukushima and Dr. Bertani described three new genera of tarantula: Ybyrapora, Caribena, and Antillena.

“Ybyrapora spiders occur in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, the other two genera live exclusively on the Caribbean Islands,” they said.

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C.S. Fukushima R. Bertani. 2017. Taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of Avicularia Lamarck, 1818 (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Aviculariinae) with description of three new aviculariine genera. ZooKeys 659: 1-185; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.659.10717