The Bay Area Blond tarantula spider lives in an underground burrow lined with silk for most of its life, until it is about 7 years old when it reaches maturity. At this time the males leave the burrow to find mates. Males can be found on Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, looking for mates, from September to early October. Many people go to Mount Diablo to watch the tarantulas at this time of year.[2]
A 2016 study of Aphonopelma species found in the United States concluded that morphological and molecular analyses failed to distinguish A. smithi (among other species) from A. iodius, and so reduced it to a synonym.
External links
- San Francisco Bay Area Wildlife: Aphonopelma species - Tarantulas
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110213075536/http://www.scottstarantulas.com/0145.htm Bay Area Blond tarantula - image]
References
1. ^{{cite web |url= http://research.amnh.org/oonopidae/catalog/names.php?genus=Aphonopelma|title= World Spider Catalog|author= |date= |website= World Spider Catalog|publisher= American Museum of Natural History|accessdate=18 January 2014}}
2. ^1 {{cite book |last= Smith |first= A.M.|date= 1995|title=Tarantula spiders: tarantulas of the U.S.A. and Mexico |location= London|publisher= Dennis Fitzgerald Publishing |isbn= 978-0951093993}}