CLASSIFICATION
Scientific Name: Poecilotheria metallica
Common names: Metallic tarantula, Peacock Tarantula, Gooty Tarantula and Salepurgu
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Family: Theraphosidae
Common names: Metallic tarantula, Peacock Tarantula, Gooty Tarantula and Salepurgu
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Family: Theraphosidae
facts
- The first metallic tarantula was found in the town Gooty in Andhra Pradesh in India hence it gets one of its names
- But it didn't come from Gooty it lives about 100 km away in the Nallamala Forest in India (shown in the slideshow bellow the little yellow dot on the top of the map)
- They normally eat flying insects such as moths, or crickets but they will eat grasshoppers, and if they are quite big they might eat small mice.
- At full adult size the female can grow up to 22 cm and the male up to 17 cm
- The females live longer than males do, like most tarantulas, females live for 12 years and males live for 3-4 years
- They do have poison in their fangs, but it isn't enough to kill a human but it will hurt if someone gets bitten
- They generally breed in Summer and it takes 1-8 months for the eggs to hatch after they have been laid
- The metallic tarantula has been placed on the IUCN critically endangered list for link press on button up top of the page