The Araneomorphae are an infraorder of spiders. They are distinguishable by chelicerae (fangs) that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae, where they point straight down. Araneomorphs comprise the vast majority of living spiders.
The Pholcidae are a family of araneomorph spiders. The family contains more than 1,800 individual species of pholcids, including those commonly known as cellar spider, daddy long-legs spider, carpenter spider, daddy long-legger, vibrating spider, gyrating spider, long daddy, and skull spider. The family, first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850, is divided into 94 genera.
The Goliath birdeater belongs to the tarantula family Theraphosidae. Found in northern South America, it is the largest spider in the world by mass and body length, and second to the giant huntsman spider by leg span. It is also called the Goliath tarantula or Goliath bird-eating spider; the practice of calling theraphosids "bird-eating" derives from an early 18th-century copper engraving by Maria Sibylla Merian that shows one eating a hummingbird. Despite the spider's name, it rarely preys on birds.
Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão was a Brazilian zoologist who is considered the founder of Arachnology in South America, publishing 198 papers on the taxonomy of Arachnida. He was also involved with education, writing high-school textbooks, and contributed to biogeography, with essays on the distribution of Arachnida in the South American continent.
Norman Ira Platnick was an American biological systematist and arachnologist. At the time of his death, he was a professor emeritus of the Richard Gilder Graduate School and Peter J. Solomon Family Curator Emeritus of the invertebrate zoology department of the American Museum of Natural History. A 1973 Ph.D. recipient at Harvard University, Platnick described over 1,800 species of spiders from around the world, making him the second most prolific spider taxonomist in history, behind only Eugène Simon. Until 2014 he was also the maintainer of the World Spider Catalog, a website formerly hosted by the AMNH which tracks the arachnology literature, and attempts to maintain a comprehensive list, sorted taxonomically, of every species of spider which has been formally described. In 2007 he received the International Society of Arachnology's Bonnet award, named for Pierre Bonnet, in recognition of his work on the catalog.
The Halidae were a tiny spider family with only three described species in two genera. As of 2006, this family was no longer considered valid; the two genera are instead grouped in the family Pisauridae.
Acanthoscurria theraphosoides is a species of spider from the family Theraphosidae (tarantulas), found in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and French Guiana.
The Theraphosinae are a large subfamily of Mygalomorphae spiders in the family Theraphosidae found in the Neotropical realm.
Acanthoscurria antillensis is a species of large spider, a tarantula in the family Theraphosidae. This species occurs in the Lesser Antilles, hence the specific name "antillensis" meaning "of the Antilles". This species is known in the exotic pet trade as the "Antillean pink patch" tarantula.
Acanthoscurria is a genus of tarantulas that was first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871. They are found throughout South America including the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, plus into the Windward Islands West Indies,.
Alireza Zamani is an Iranian arachnologist and taxonomist.
Speleoticus is a spider genus in the family Nesticidae. Its species are found in Japan and China.
Aituaria pontica is an araneomorph spider of the family Nesticidae. It occurs in the Krasnodar region of Russia and in Georgia.
Acanthoscurria gomesiana is a species of tarantula first identified in Brazil in 1923. It is known for producing the gomesin peptides, a class of proteins which have found to have anti-tumour and anti-microbial properties.
Hadrotarsus setosus is a species of comb-footed spider in the family Theridiidae. It is found in Tasmania.
Stalita taenaria is an araneomorph spider species in the family Dysderidae. The species is classified as a member of troglofauna, more precisely a troglobiont species, meaning such spiders are obligate cave-dwellers adapted to living in dark surroundings. Stalita taenaria is a species of a few European countries. The spider is thought to be the first described species of true (eyeless) cave spider in the world.
Acanthoscurria insubtilis also known as the Bolivian black velvet tarantula, is a spider which was first described by Eugène Simon in 1892. It is found in Bolivia, with some reports also stating in Brazil, though it is mainly in the Bolivian Rainforests.
Acanthoscurria simoensi is a species of tarantula spider found in Guyana, French Guiana, and Brazil, first described from French Guiana in 2000. The species has been traded in the exotic pet hobby as "Para Mongo Zebra” under spurious scientific names such as 'fracta'. The common name partly relates to the colouration where the females of the species have dark bodies with light coloured linear markings on legs. Notably, like in many other tarantulas with strong sexual dimorpsim, adult males of the species have a different general appearance with a more rusty metallic colouration and comparatively weak linear markings on the legs.
Acanthoscurria chacoana, also know as the Bolivian red rump tarantula, is a fast growing, docile tarantula found in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. It is commonly kept as a pet, preferring 70–80% humidity and a horizontally large enclosure, as it is terrestrial. This species of spider does create burrows and is a reddish-brown with tan stripes on its legs.
Acanthoscurria juruenicola is a species of ground dwelling tarantula native to Brazil. Its common name is the Brazilian orange-banded tarantula and it is not often kept as a pet, but it can be given the right conditions. Typically, this species lives in conditions with 65-75% humidity with temperatures ranging from 76 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. They can get up to 7 inches and, but their sex and environment are factors that can affect their size.
