Bug card No. 0811 of 1,500
King baboon spider
Pelinobius muticus
The king baboon spider is a big, rusty orange tarantula from east Africa. It lives in a deep burrow that it digs with its thick back legs. When it is upset, it can make a hissing sound by rubbing its legs together.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
East Africa, in Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe, in grasslands and shrublands
What does it eat?
It hunts beetles, cockroaches and other spiders. It lays silk threads by its burrow door so it can feel when food walks past.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
King baboon spider about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
With its legs spread out it can be up to 20 centimetres wide, as big as a dinner plate.
2
It is one of the few tarantulas that makes a hissing sound to warn enemies.
3
When it feels threatened it rears up and strikes.
4
It grows very slowly.
5
It hides the entrance to its burrow under plants.
you asked
Most asked questions about King baboon spider
?How big is the king baboon spider?
Its legs can spread up to 20 centimetres, as wide as a dinner plate.
?Where does the king baboon spider live?
In burrows in the grasslands and shrublands of east Africa.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pelinobius muticus
- Named by
- Karsch, 1885
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Theraphosidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
- Lives on
- Africa
Where the facts come from
- King baboon spider (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Www.universoaracnido.com. CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
European garden spider
Goliath birdeater
Brown recluse
Redback spider
Yellow garden spider
Bold jumping spider
Karner blue
Polka-dot wasp moth
Summer chafer
Decollate snail
Rosemary beetle
Cabbage moth