Book Review: Tarantulas by Joanne Randolph, in Nightmare Creatures: Spiders! Series Title #5

Scientists give tarantulas the description incomplete metamorphosis since spiderlings resemble undersized adults. Spiderlings hatch from eggs laid within silken sacs in ground burrows or tree cavities. The progression through life cycles and natural histories is aided by: 

• exposure to sunlight when mothers air eggs and newborns outside; 
• growth through 30+ molts -- until 3 to 4 or 7 to 8 years after birth -- when tarantulas lie on their backs instead of the usual mid-air dangled web; and 
• stabilization at mature body lengths of 1 to 5 inches (2.5 to 12.7 centimeters), with leg-spans 10 to 12 inches (25.4 to 30.48 centimeters) long for the world's biggest spiders, South American tropical rain forest goliath tarantulas (Theraphosa leblondi). 

Amateurs, newbies, and specialists know tarantulas by: 

• black-, blue-, brown-, purple-haired, large abdomens and cephalothoraxes (merged heads and thoraxes); 
• eight close-spaced, poor-visioned, small-sized eyes; and 
• four sets of seven-segmented, stocky legs with hairy-bottomed, two-clawed tips. 

They link tarantula bio-geographical sustainability to: 

• controlling populations of such prey as birds, frogs, insects, lizards, millipedes, rattlesnakes, spiders, toads, and woodlice; 
• hunting, not web-trapping, with all-body hairs and leg-attached slit sense organ receptors and special-haired tricobothria respectively detecting vibrations, aeration, and stress; 
• releasing barb-tipped abdominal hairs and stink bombs into predatory eyes; and 
• using powerful jaws to crush prey and poison predators fatally in Africa and South America and temporarily elsewhere.

Females may survive 20 years whereas males perish after mating. 

The PowerKids Press-released Tarantulas numbers as title #5 in The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. of New York’s Nightmare Creatures: Spiders! series, which includes:

• #1 Black Widow Spiders;
• #2 Crab Spiders;
• #3 Jumping Spiders;
• #4 Orb-Weaver Spiders; and
• #6 Wolf Spiders.

The info-science publication offers third- to seventh-graders aged 8 to 12 years culturally enriching and educationally entertaining insights into tarantula bio-geographies, life cycles, and natural histories through 24 pages containing beautifully clear photographs and divided into:

• ten chapters;
• index; and
• glossary

Tarantulas provides memorable illustrative and textual information thanks to timely release in 2014 and timeless relevance through:

• book designer Andrew Povolny;
• editors Norman D. Graubart and Jennifer Way; 
• photo researcher Katie Stryker; and 
• writer Joanne Randolph.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

General distribution of tarantulas
drawn after World Spider Catalog 7.0, maintained until 2014 by Norman Ira Platnick (December 30, 1951-April 8, 2020): Sarefo, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Distribution.theraphosidae.1.png

When predator becomes prey: Tarantula is skewered on Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera) spike by loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) in southeastern California's Joshua Tree National Park.
New World native passerine birds, Loggerhead Shrikes turn the table on prey, including tarantulas, by impaling them on sharp points such as barbed wire, spikes, or thorns.
photo by Brad Sutton/National Park Service (NPS): Joshua Tree National Park, Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuatreenp/14045718200/

Unlike Old World species, New World tarantula species have evolved irritating barbed hairs, known as urticating bristles, on opisthosoma for defense.
Opisthosoma is the posterior body part, often likened to an abdomen, but distinctive in arthropods for its inclusion of respiratory organs (book lungs or book gills) and the heart.
adult female Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi) with bald patch on opisthosoma from kicking off urticating bristles: HTO, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brachypelma_smithi,_urticating_hairs.JPG

Brazilian Giant Whiteknee Tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata): New World tarantula; fast-growing mature legspan of 8.5 inches (21.5 centimeters) for females
Native to forests of Brazil, A. geniculata are prized as pets!
macro of Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata): Flickpicpete (Thanks for 780,000+ views), CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/flickpicpete/12075195475/

Tarantulas meet their match in nature: Female tarantula hawk or spider wasp (Pepsis or Hemipepsis) drags paralyzed Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi).
Bajos del Toro, Alajuela province, north central Costa Rica: Charles James Sharp (Charles J. Sharp), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasp_with_Orange-kneed_tarantula.JPG

Fried tarantulas have become a delicacy in Cambodia, centered in Skuon, known touristically as Spider Village, in Kampong Cham Province, southeastern Cambodia.
fried tarantula in Cambodian restaurant: Jaiprakashsingh, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fried_Tarantula_in_Cambodian_Restaurant.jpg

Randolph, Joanne. 2014. Tarantulas. PowerKids Press: Nightmare Creatures: Spiders! Series Title #5. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.