A giant tarantula in Brazil
Tuesday 24th January 2023A GIANT TARANTULA IN BRAZIL
Australian cryptozoologist Mike Hardcastle sent me an account from the book Naturalist on the River Amazon by Henry Walter Bates(originally published in 1863)of a giant tarantula or mygale in Brazil. The crucial passage in the book is as follows: ” Some Mygales are of immense size.One day I saw the children belonging to an Indian family who collected for me with one of these monsters secured by a cord round its waist, by which they were leading it around the house as they would a dog.” According to Wikipedia: “The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to them forming trapdoors over their burrows.” The Goliath bird eater is the largest tarantula in S.America with a leg span of nearly a foot. (1)
- See https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/goliath-birdeater#:~:text=The%20Goliath%20birdeater%20spider%20is%20a%20stealth%20hunter%20in%20South%20American%20forests.&text=The%20Goliath%20birdeater%20is%20the,largest%20arachnid%20on%20the%20planet.
Theraphosa blondi MHNT. From Wikipedia.
