Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens Tarantula

CHROMATOPELMA CYANEOPUBESCENS TARANTULA By Michael Fantus

Chromatopelma is a monotypic genus of South American tarantulas containing the single species, Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens (the Green Bottle Blue tarantula).

History The Green Bottle Blue tarantula, like many tarantulas, has undergone revision many times since its discovery. Classification is never done visually even though amateur hobbyists of all sorts are visually motivated. Everyone wants the Big Blue One, or the Pretty Pink One, no one says “that feller with three spines per millimeter is much cuter than the one with four.”

Plants are judged by the method of reproduction, animals by method of rearing their young, fish by types of teeth and egg laying or livebearing, bony or cartilaginous, skin or scales… taxonomy is never done by what you see, though fortunately biologists and their proponents like Funk and Wagnalls, National Geographic, and the Department of the Interior have made sure we have luxurious access to programming that helps us learn about and interact with the diversity of life on earth and instantly recognize almost all of it by common names.

Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens was discovered in 1907 on the Paraguana Peninsula, Venezuela by Embrik Strand, (d. 1947) a famous entomologist and biologist. He originally described it as a kind of “bird spider”, one that likes to inhabit profusely webbed habitats above the ground, and described it as Erypelma cyaneopubescens.

In 1939, Petrunkevitch re-classified the genus as Delopelma cyaneopubescens, but we now call it Delopelma Genus Aphonopelma, and Green Bottles do not resemble Aphonopelma in any way so then…Gunter Schmidt, in 1995 finally revised them into their own single-type genus, Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens. Taxonomy The Green Bottle Blue tarantula Previous names: Eurypelma cyaneopubescens Strand, 1907, Delopelma cyaneopubescens Petrunkevitch, 1939. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda The specimen I kept was docile and was far from a fussy eater, and from day one to his last kept his vibrant and eye-catching color. He lived around three and half years. Shortly after he displayed his reproductive organs, like most male tarantulas, he passed away. Fortunately, the prices and availability of the species make replacement someday a clear possibility. ] ]

Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Suborder: Mygalomorphae Family: Theraphosidae Subfamily: Theraphosinae Genus: Chromatopelma Species: Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens Type: Terrestrial bird spider Category: New world tarantula Urticating setae: Yes, type III and IV (abdomen) Venom: Probably mild. No valuable scientific research has been done yet (be my guest!) Origin: Noord-Venezuela, peninsula Paraguaná. The spider has been seen in Punto Fijo as well Body length: ≤ 7cm Span width: ≤ 15-16cm

Conservation and Status Most tarantulas are considered threatened, and it is a crime to collect them from the wild without a permit. C.I.T.E.S., the Congress on the International Trade of Endangered Species, is updated regularly and has details on which species of plants, animals, and microbes can be collected without permits and from which locations and how to legally gain access to sites, collect, and transport specimens of interest based on current population levels and the end-use. C. cyaneopubescens does not appear to be red listed at this time.

ABOUT MICHAEL Michael Fantus’ day job is marketing in a Washington DC Association. His hobbies include fiction writing, music composition, French horn playing, redwood bonsai, and tarantulizing. He is the author of a novel, the Rage of Ganymede and the Lightning Manifesto.

(Never ask a girl her age, and I have a partner named Stefen Styrsky who works in legal services, is a published fiction and technical writer, as well as a film critic. He avoids the tarantulas).