Fringed Ornamental Tarantula

Poecilotheria ornata

''Poecilotheria ornata'', known as the fringed ornamental or ornate tiger spider, is a large arboreal tarantula, which is endemic to Sri Lanka. Their legspan sometimes reaches 10 inches in females, and is probably the second largest of the genus, behind ''Poecilotheria rufilata''.
A big ol' tarantula on a tree trunk in Sri Lanka  Geotagged,Poecilotheria ornata,Sri Lanka,Summer

Appearance

The species is easily distinguishable by other tiger spiders due to greenish yellow or purplish carapace in dorsal surface. Ventrally, there is a proximal white spot on femur of fourth pair of legs.

Naming

The name ''Poecilotheria'' is derived from Greek "poikilos" - spotted and "therion" - wild beast. Ornata refers to "adorned to". This whole genus of arboreal tarantulas exhibits an intricate fractal-like pattern on the abdomen.

Behavior

The ''P. ornata'' behavior parallels that of many arboreal spiders. In the wild the ''P. ornata'' live in holes of tall trees where they make asymmetric funnel webs. Their primary prey consists of various flying insects, which they catch manually and paralyze. It is not unknown for the spiders of this genus to live communally when territory, i.e. number of holes per tree, is limited.

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Status: Endangered
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassArachnida
OrderAraneae
FamilyTheraphosidae
GenusPoecilotheria
SpeciesP. ornata
Photographed in
Sri Lanka