Cobalt blue tarantula

Haplopelma lividum, females

( Sometimes called "Blue Burma tarantula ", " Blue Thai " or " Cobalt Blue Tarantula " ) The Haplopelma lividum is a Vogelspinnenart, which is essentially based in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and Thailand.

Previously, she was often confused because of their color with the rare Lampropelma Violaceopes and came under their antiquated name Lampropelma violaceopedes in the pet trade. This kind even among the Ornithoctoninae, but is found in Malaysia and Singapore and lives in contrast to the röhrenbewohnenden Haplopelma lividum on trees. These inconsistencies prompted Andrew Smith in 1996 to describe the introduced since 1988 in Europe in the trade "Blue Tarantula " as a new species and assigned to the genus Haplopelma.

Habitat

She lives in the humid forests of their range, but there is also to be found in plantations.

Appearance

Haplopelma lividum is a rather small to medium sized Vogelspinnenart with a maximum of five centimeters body length. It has an elongated, gray carapace. The abdomen has a gradient of gray at the base to bluish at the spinnerets. The abdomen has in addition a black longitudinal line. The femur is black with a bluish tinge. Of the patellae to the tarsi of the spider has a dark blue color. The body hair is very short and the body shape is generally very slim.

Way of life

Haplopelma lividum is a röhrenbewohnende spider, that she lives in self-dug, up to > 50 cm deep burrows, which they rarely leaves.

Haplopelma lividum feeds mainly on insects, depending on size, for example Crickets, grasshoppers and cockroaches. As soon as she perceives prey near their tube, they move like lightning out, overwhelmed the prey, and contracts to feed back to their hideout back.

In a threat these spiders usually responds defensively by hiding in its burrow. If you, however, no shelter is available, it is aggressive, fast and unpredictable, and continues with poison bite to defend.

It can be kept in a terrarium.

Systematics and Taxonomy

2010 Haplopelma types except the type species Haplopelma doriae, which was placed in the genus Ornithoctonus, Günter Schmidt EW under the rebuilt synonym Melopoeus Pocock, 1895 were summarized. The scientific name of Burma Blue Tarantula would be after this revision Melopoeus lividum.