Mexican redknee tarantula
The Mexican redknee tarantula is a big, hairy spider with black legs and bright orange rings on its knees. It lives on the ground in the mountains of western Mexico. Females can live for up to 30 years, longer than many pets.
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Fun facts
Females can live up to 30 years, but males usually live only about 5.
To grow, it has to wriggle out of its old skin. It lies on its back for hours while doing it.
If it loses a leg, a new one slowly grows back over the next few skin changes.
For a long time it was mixed up with a very similar spider. Scientists only sorted it out in 2017 by checking their DNA.
Most asked questions about Mexican redknee tarantula
?How long do Mexican redknee tarantulas live?
Females can live up to 30 years. Males usually live about 5 years.
?How big is a Mexican redknee tarantula?
Its body is about 5 centimetres long, and its longest legs can reach 7.5 centimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Brachypelma hamorii
- Named by
- Tesmoingt, Cleton & Verdez, 1997
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Theraphosidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Brachypelma hamorii (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 George Chernilevsky. Public domain, 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.
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