Description
Scientific Name: Lyrognathus giannisposatoi
Common Names: Sumatran Stout Leg
It’s a mouthful trying to say some of these scientific names and the Sumatran Stout Leg has an especially tricky one to say. Lyro (origin meaning sound / sound of friction) and gnathus (origin meaning teeth/fangs) might suggest that these Tarantulas can stridulate their fangs (hiss) although we’ve never personally heard them hiss. This is a true-blue old world species, permanently leaning towards a bad mood and will not hesitate to display a threat posture. This is usually the part where we back away and leave them alone for a while or threats will be followed by striking and biting attempts.
They have a unique appearance and are awesome to see at full size with the slight gradient in color that goes from a sort of rusty red from the tarsi/feet and legs, up to a darker chocolate brown closer towards the body. Their most striking feature are the super-chunky stout rear legs that give this tarantula it’s name.
This a fossorial spider for the most part, spending a lot of time in it’s burrow and only leaving the burrow in the dark to look for food or do some expoloring. These bird spiders like to use lots of webbing to secure their shelters, so once again, supplying a shallow enclosure with lots of structure will entice these spiders to create a webbed wonderland, rather than just a single hole burrow to live in. Feeding them sparingly will also always make sure they are near the mouth of their burrows where they can been seen waiting for prey to pass by.
This is a pretty rare spider in South Africa, but is seen a lot more commonly in the USA and Europe nowadays.
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