ORIGINAL: Live Science
by LiveScience Staff
30 October 2012
Typhochlaena amma lives in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest mountain range in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. CREDIT: Rogerio Bertani |
A scientist has discovered nine new species of colorful tree-climbing tarantulas in central and eastern Brazil, including four belonging to a mysterious, old genus and others that are quite picky about which plants to choose as homes.
"Instead of the seven species formerly known in the region, we now have sixteen," Rogério Bertanim, a researcher at Brazil's Instituto Butantan, said in a statement.
So-called arboreal tarantulas previously have been identified in a few tropical places in Asia, Africa, South and Central America and the Caribbean. (The Amazon is their core habitat). These tarantulas have a light, agile build and pads at the end of their legs that make them better equipped to climb over the smooth surfaces of tree branches and plant leaves.
This shows the Typhochlaena costae from the Brazilian "cerrado" in the state of Tocantins. CREDIT: Rogerio Bertani |
Bertanim also described a new species, Pachistopelma bromelicola, that lives only inside bromeliads, a type of flowering plant.
"Only a single species had been known to live exclusively inside these plants, and now we have another that specialized in bromeliads as well," Bertanim added.
This image shows the Iridopelma katiae, a species that lives in the top of mountain tables in the state of Bahia, Brazil. CREDIT: Rogerio Bertani |
"This species also inhabits bromeliads, one of the few places for an arboreal tarantula to live that offer water and a retreat against the intense sunlight," Bertanim said.
The researcher says all the new species are highly specific to the regions where they're found and are being threatened by human activities. The study was published online this month in the journal ZooKeys.
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