Tarantulas of Suriname

Guy Tansley

During November and December 2012, I travelled with Andrew Smith, Paul Carpenter and Michael Jacobi to Suriname. The aim of this three week trip was to follow in the footsteps of Madam Merian, a German born naturalist and illustrator who travelled to Suriname in 1699 and spent 2 years there. She returned with numerous paintings of the local flora and fauna which were included in her book published in 1705, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium.

One of these paintings depicted a pink toe tarantula sitting on a birds nest feeding on a humming bird (this is why all large South American spiders are now called bird eating spiders) and this painting was used to describe Avicularia avicularia by Linnaeus in 1758. No actual dead specimen exists in any museum collection.

The following is adapted from my diary notes.

Day 1: A short flight over to Amsterdam then an 8.5 hour flight into the Suriname capital, Paramaribo. We were greeted by nice views of the forest as we flew in arriving at 17:00. The landscape was quite flat in the immediate area but mountains could be seen in the distance, there are no beaches in Suriname, simply swamp then forest. The 27°C heat hit us like the opening of an oven door as we disembarked and it took over an hour to get through customs but without problems.

We arrived at Oxygen (our first accommodation) after sunset and were greeted by Michael with beers ready and waiting on the bar. Oxygen was great. Air conditioned rooms with good showers and amenities such as a bar, restaurant and pool. Michael had arrived 24hrs earlier and had spent the day wandering around Paramaribo taking photographs, buying beers and cigars etc. He managed to get quite sunburnt in the process, neglecting to wear a hat in the 39°C temperature! A plate of chips, several beers and shots of the local rum later, we chatted into the early hours before retiring for the night.

Day 2: Collected the hire car and spent the day in the capital.

Day 3: Acting on a tip off, we visited a street where a few Dutch collectors had visited a few years previous and found Avicularia spp. in an old wooden house. The owner gladly let us onto his land and took us around the back to point out silken tube webs in the roof eves above. Sadly there was no spider to be found but the silk did contain a broken up moult confirming that we were in the right region after all. Locals believe the spiders are deadly, killing them on sight, explaining why they are less abundant in urban areas.

Day 4: We boarded a small ferry to cross the Commewijne River to visit Frederiksdorp, a restored coffee plantation designed to attract tourists. Within 10 minutes of landing, I had located the first Avicularia adult female in a palm tree, hiding in a silken retreat approx. 2m above ground. A search of the surrounding area revealed many more scattered amongst the medium and large palms, some in the fronds and some in hammered out weevil holes made by woodpeckers. We concluded that they were most likely what we have in the pet trade as Avicularia avicularia. They were easily tickled out, showing no aggression whilst being handled except for leaping to the ground now and then (explaining the local term ‘flying spiders’).

Avicularia avicularia under loose bark.

Day 5: We headed for the Saramacca district about 1.5 hours from Oxygen. We clambered into the forest and quickly realized that it was pretty dense and that splitting up was a bad idea for fear of getting lost. We worked the area around the trail path for around 30 minutes and concluded that it was probably too wet underfoot for Theraphosa and too dense to work with any success. We exited the tangle of trees and surveyed the site for a better area and soon found a large stretch of clearer forest opposite the road outside of the farm where there was a small man made fire burning just a few feet into the forest. Inside this stretch it was much easier to work so we set about searching both the trees and ground for spiders. Although seemingly prime habitat, there was a distinct lack of insects and as it turned out, spiders. Likely holes in the undergrowth were investigated with the endoscopes but without joy. I photographed a gorgeous kite spider and Michael found and a large Tityus scorpion.

Tityus sp.scorpion.

After several hours of searching, the radio call came in that Paul had found an Avicularia sub adult. I made my way to his location and discovered that he had wandered into the forest just opposite to the entrance of the farm and there, on the floor, was a broken off dead palm frond with characteristic silk on one end and inside, a juvenile pink toe and fresh moulted skin. After a few photos, Paul extracted the spider and we concluded that it was most likely another Avicularia avicularia.

Avicularia sub-adult in palm frond

Day 6: We headed to the oldest cemetery in Paramaribo Andy could find. He was searching for the grave of Madam Merian’s daughter but it turned out the graves dated too late. Paul, Michael and I headed into town to check out the bookshop and we picked up Andy a while later and we drove to the butterfly house.

There was a decent flight area but only 9 species inside. The insect museum was nothing more than pinned specimens unfortunately. Paul took a walk into the breeding area and through the nature walkway he found theraphosid silk on one of the trees but sadly, just out of reach. We pointed this out to the guide and she was keen to learn about our trip and the spider. She took us around the breeding facility to where the caterpillars are raised along with a recent addition, red tail boas and yellow foot tortoises. We also saw the packing and export office from where pupae are sent all across Europe and North America. One highlight was the Blue Morpho cage where they held their breeding stock, literally hundreds of adult Blue Morpho butterflies flying together!

Day 7: After breakfast we headed out to the local zoo, first checking out an area of forest alongside the zoo where we were told Avicularia could be found. Although much cooler, humidity was high so there was an apparent increase of insects from the off. Yellow banded millipedes and turnip-tailed geckos were on the trees.

After an hour or so the call came in that Paul had found a silken retreat and by the time I reached him and the others, they had tickled it out and it was a Tapinauchenius plumipes, small in size and an overall brown coloration. Several photos later we continued our search for another hour before heading into the zoo to search the interior trees for Avicularia sp. The zoo was poor to say the least, tigers in the smallest cage I've seen, several eagles and snakes and even 2 adult Avicularia in a glass display tank. A quick search of the zoo grounds revealed another Tapinauchenius silken tube and I eventually found a cluster of trees containing 3 juvenile Avicularia that were easily photographed.

Tapinauchenius sp. female

Guy pointing out a juvenile Avicularia sp. on a tree in the zoo grounds

Day 8: Leaving Oxygen, we made our way to Babunhol. Once there we were greeted by the manageress who presented us with an Avicularia in a box as a welcoming gift! She had heard we were coming! We unpacked and settled into our accommodation of open air kitchen, 3 bedrooms and separate toilet and shower block, all with views over the river. We slung up our mosquito nets on the bunk beds (a bit of an effort in the high humidity) and after lunch we headed back out to the local gas station for supplies and on the track, Paul spotted a silk lined burrow and it was confirmed as a juvenile Ephebopus murinus. We resisted working on it and headed to buy supplies. Michael spotted another larger burrow on the way back so these were marked to be revisited later that evening.

View across the Suriname river from our Babunhol accommodation

Back at the hotel, a quick survey of the site revealed many Avicularia silk tubes and after extracting a small one, we couldn't readily determine its species, a larger specimen would be required. After dinner (and a torrential 20 minute downpour at around 5pm) a night walk revealed various colourful frogs and toads but behind the restaurant, I spotted a large spider in the roof. A seven legged female wandering spider, Phoneutria reidyi.

Phoneutria reidyi

Eventually, impatience got the better of us so we drove the short distance to the E. murinus burrows and I managed to tickle one out for a photo session (medium juvenile in advanced pre-moult).

Juvenile Ephebopus murinus extracted from the embankment

Day 9: After breakfast, a local guide turned up to take us into the forest to see a tarantula burrow he had found previously.

We headed out of the resort a little, climbed about 30m then the ground levelled out as we entered the forest trail through secondary forest. It wasn't long before Paul spotted a juvenile E. murinus burrow and tickled it out. Nearby was the larger one the guide had brought us to see. Another E. murinus burrow but the biggest we'd seen so far; silked over and with a small turret entrance. I could just see the tips of the spider’s legs inside but we decided to leave this one undisturbed for possible night work. We continued through the undulating forest trail but didn't find anymore burrows in this section. We headed out of the circular route through a construction site for new holiday homes and as the patch of forest behind this looked promising, we headed in. It wasn't long before I spotted a nice large turreted burrow amongst the leaf litter, again heavily silked over. Legs could be seen inside so this time we dedicated to try and tickle this one out so the guides could see the spider up close (they know very little about the tarantulas of the area and were eager to learn). Sadly the spider was uncooperative and remained hidden so we left well alone and continued to search the area but without success.

Later Michael and Paul headed back up the entrance road into to check out the short embankments for more possible E. murinus burrows. After an hour or so of searching, I found a juvenile E. murinus burrow approx. 1m above the ground in the base of a dead palm frond. It tickled out easily and after taking photos, I called Andy and Paul in to do the same.

Later still, we spotted a juvenile Tapinauchenius approx. 7' high up a thin tree. The spider was out and feeding after dusk so the familiar sound of camera clicks followed.

"What on earth is that?!" Paul exclaimed as he examined the nearby tree and on inspection we saw a large adult male Tapinauchenius in the gap between the tree and a lantana vine. More photographs followed and the male was successfully captured for a more in depth photo-shoot the following day.

Tapinauchenius sp. adult male

Day 10: A visit to nearby Danta Bai river resort (a site given to us the day before by a local guest at Babunhol).

Once out of the car, I spotted a burrow and on examination, it looked to be another E. murinus. Andy got to work digging it out as it didn't respond to tickling. As he worked the burrow, Paul, Michael and I continued to search for more burrows which turned up only one more definite E. murinus. It wasn't long before Andy had successfully dug deep enough to extract the medium sized spider so a photo-shoot ensued.

Small adult female Ephebopus murinus

A brief survey of the resort showed there were more silken retreats than at Babunhol as this area was less used so more overgrown (there were even retreats in an abandoned old car at the site) and we saw Avicularia in the wooden cooking area; a juvenile high up in the rafters, out in daylight too.

Climbing back in the car, we drove a short distance to check out an area of dead and dying trees that I had spotted earlier. We parked the car in a shady spot and within seconds of reaching the site, Paul pointed out a huge silken tube high up in one of the largest trees. Sadly this was out of reach so we continued to search and Paul and I found several Avicularia juveniles and sub-adults but we really needed to see a large adult female to determine which species we were dealing with in this area.

Shining my torch into a rotting tree stump, I was pleased to see the familiar hairy legs of a very large adult Avicularia female sitting at the bottom. There was no silk whatsoever so it didn't take much effort to tickle the spider up the hollow and out into the open.

Large adult female Avicularia avicularia

Michael was of the assumption that the spider in this area was A. metallica due to the spider’s large size, grizzled hairs and more blue coloration compared to the Frederiksdorp specimen that had red hairs on the legs and was less grizzled in appearance. It’s likely that they are all Avicularia avicularia but regional variations that occur throughout Suriname.

Back at Babunhol, it wasn't long before Paul and Michael were back from their swim with news of another large Avicularia female they had found on a tree right on river bank. We grabbed our cameras and headed down before the light faded and took more pictures of the spider which resembled the Frederiksdorp specimen having reddish hairs on the rear legs. Paul and Michael said they had seen a juvenile spider in with the female that was most likely the same species.

After dinner, I did a short night walk to a couple of areas I'd yet to check out. There were lots of frogs and toads and an extremely noisy but hidden tree frog in the roof of one of the cabins near the river. Near the waters edge I spotted some silk on a tree and on inspection was greeted by a medium sized spider which lacked the pink toes. I had found another Tapinauchenius! Unable to tickle this one out, I left it alone for a closer look the next day. Further walking revealed orange and arrow-head bats in trees, a large katydid and a medium sized brown millipede and two large silken tubes in the farthest cabin, one of which was occupied but sadly out of reach. You would need a ladder for this one or one very large tickling stick!

Day 11: We wasted no time in heading down to the tree where I found the Tapinauchenius the night before. After a failed tickle, I removed the debris that surrounded the retreat and we soon had the spider extracted.

After a late lunch, all of us kitted up to do a late afternoon recon of a new forest trail. We first checked the river shore trees for more Tapinauchenius and found none but Michael spotted a medium sized snake between the roots of a tree that I had just walked by. A few photos later, Michael finally got to use his snake hook as he wrangled it for more photos. This snake was a so-called Labaria or fer de lance (Bothrops sp.) and by all accounts, quite venomous!

Guy wrangles the Labaria

After dark, we returned to the construction site E. murinus burrow and this time we found her out in hunting mode, legs around the edge of her burrow. I moved closer alone and took photos of this large and impressive female and managed to tickle her out using the forceps. The spider was a large female with a rounded abdomen indicating that she may be carrying eggs. She was to be photographed the next day and be relocated in a suitable spot as the area where she was collected was due for construction work.

Ephebopus murinus at burrow entrance

Ephebopus murinus adult female

Day 12: Brownsberg Nature Park. The going became slow due to the state of the road and we questioned if the road we were on was actually the right one! The road was edged by some good embankments and we scoured them for burrows. The pot holes and puddles increased on the ascent but we eventually arrived at the park reception to the sound of howler monkeys overhead. The nature park itself had seen better days but the staff and restaurant owner were helpful, informing us that Theraphosa had been seen in the area and even the restaurant waitress had a picture of a mature male that had wandered into the building on her mobile phone!

After a cold drink, we headed down one of the many forest paths and we soon spotted a dart frog (Ameerega trivittata). Down the path we split up and searched for likely Theraphosa holes but after using the endoscope on many, we failed to find any. On one rise I spotted a large E. murinus burrow and she was at the entrance. Tickling once again failed but we got some good shots with the endoscope camera. Andy attempted to dig the spider out but was soon stopped by the amount of roots and rocks into which the burrow descended.

Ameerega trivittata

Back at the park reception, a local worker led us to an outbuilding down the track from where we had just been. In one of the buildings was a sock web with a medium sized Avicularia. We extracted her with relative ease and took photos. There was also a large turnip tailed gecko here so that was photographed too.

After lunch we decided to split up so Andy and Michael headed back down to the same trail while Paul and I decided to work the embankments back on the roadside up to the nature park. It wasn't long before I spotted a small silked over burrow and shining my torch inside I could see a brown abdomen with darker chevrons. Tickling failed as the spider retreated down the burrow and just to the right of me; Paul investigated another shallow burrow and extracted a medium sized spider, a large Ephebopus rufescens!

Ephebopus rufescens

Moving on, I soon spotted a slightly larger burrow and thin brown legs with faint markings could be seen at the entrance. This spider refused to be tickled also and moved away from the bright torch light. As we moved down the road, several more burrows were found and marked for later inspection. Here we also saw large red and brown frogs (Leptodactylus pentadactylus) as we shone torches down into likely holes. One of these holes I shone the torch into was another snake which looked like another Labaria! Paul stuck the endoscope down and that upset the snake enough for it to strike the camera!

Once we were nearly back at the main site, we saw a large lizard taking a drink from a roadside puddle. Black and yellow in colour, it was another tegu species while back at the site, Michael and Andy were already back but they had failed to find Theraphosa sadly.

By now the light was fading so we decided to head back in the car, showing Andy the burrows we had found on the way down. The going was slow but steady and we eventually reached Tarmac again.

Day 13: We headed out to recon the area around Brokopondo reservoir. We found a viewpoint first looking over the dam which was disappointing; they have flooded a huge area of forest for the hydroelectric dam and all that's left is a few sad dead trees poking up above the waterline.

Moving on, we drove a few different roads and searched them for suitable embankments but apart from one or two small juvenile burrows, we didn't see much at all.

Day 14: Back up to Brownsberg again to check out the lower slopes for burrows.

Once we reached around 700ft we parked up and split up to search the area. Spider monkeys swung through the trees and we could hear howler monkeys again. We found a couple of silken burrows after an hour or so then the call came over the radios that Andy had finally found a Theraphosa spiderling! It was in a shallow burrow in the embankment with no silk whatsoever. It responded well to tickling but it was pretty fast so resisted being captured. We decided to stop for a lunch break at this point to allow the spiderling to hopefully emerge once again.

Thersphosa blondi spiderling

After lunch, the spider still evaded us so we decided to check the immediate area for a possible adult female burrow. I headed down the roadside while the others headed up. The forest was dense in places and there were lots of suitable holes but even with an endoscope, it proved difficult to determine if these holds held a spider; sometimes the holes were too deep even for our longest endoscope! I managed to spot a snake curled up inside a hole in a rock so called Michael over to extract it with forceps. The snake was as thin as a bootlace with a bulbous head and Michael guessed it was some sort of slug eater.

After a couple of hours we met back at the spiderling burrow and extracted it quite easily this time. We took photos and shot video then decided to spend another 30 minutes or so searching the area once more. Not long after, Andy announced that he had found a spider. I made my way to him and sure enough, he had found a burrow, endoscoped it and inside we glimpsed large brown legs so characteristic of Theraphosa blondi! The light was fading and the spider didn't respond well to mark it and return the next day to work it. We drove back with a sense of relief, to say the least!

Day 15: We drove back up to the Theraphosa site and this time she responded well to tickling and emerging at the entrance for the first time, we could finally see her size. Not a giant but certainly a big spider! Extraction at this time was not possible so Andy and Paul got to work digging the burrow. It didn't take long before the spider was in an exposed position in the burrow and with relative ease, Paul moved his gloved hand behind her and she exited through a previously unseen hole further down her burrow. With a cloud of urticating hairs she emerged and I carefully potted her up.

Thersphosa blondi at burrow entrance

Theraphosa blondi adult female extracted

One of the longest photo shoots of the trip followed but eventually, using a dead palm frond, we reconstructed the burrow and placed the spider back inside as best we could. We all popped anti histamines due to the hairs and sat down for lunch.

Next we drove up the further up the hill and this time we split up into pairs. Paul and Andy continued to search for another Theraphosa as they were equipped with the endoscopes while Michael and I walked up the road, checking the embankments. We saw Black bearded monkeys overhead (Saki satan) and spotted several small burrows on the track - at least one juvenile E. murinus but a couple of the others were unidentified brown spiders that we marked for later inspection.

Day 16: We decided to split up and explore the area around Babunhol in search if another, hopefully larger, Tapinauchenius female. There were a few interesting things to see here such as assassin bugs and a few small tarantula burrows but as this area was dense secondary forest and very dark on the forest floor, I decided to try a different area. I made my way to the forest trail that our guide took us on earlier in the week but this time, I did it in reverse. Again, I found a few small burrows in the dead trees and managed to extract one. Other interesting things on this trail included quail, red crested woodpecker and tiny golden humming birds, one of which alighted right in front of me for a few moments.

We met back up at 13:00 for lunch and Paul told us that he had found what we were searching for - a larger female Tapinauchenius! After lunch we picked up the adult murinus female and heading back into the forest. Once in a suitable spot near Paul's new find, we located a deep empty hole on a slight slope under some roots and placed the murinus inside. Relocation mission complete!
 

Paul then led us to his tree and sure enough, shining our torches up into a small crevice, we could just see some large hairy legs surrounded by a small amount of silk. How Paul found it, I'll never know! Tickling and extraction proved difficult due to the height of the retreat and after trying to climb the slippery tree, I remembered that I had seen a pair of step ladders behind one of the buildings behind our accommodation. I went back to get them while Paul and Michael cleared the site slightly. Once back, we stabilized the ladder and Paul climbed up and within a few minutes, he had successfully tickled the spider out on the trunk of the tree. We were greeted by burnt orange toes and rufous pink setae covering the whole body. I immediately recognized the spider but it wasn't the Tapinauchenius Paul thought, but a gorgeous specimen of Amazonius germani (formally Tapinauchenius gigas)! We potted the spider up and took her to a suitable shot for photos and then Paul and Andy returned her to her tree while Michael and I carried the gear, including the ladder, back to the house. That's the first time I've carried a ladder through the jungle!

Amazonius germani adult female

Day 17: We headed back up the Brownsberg road again to investigate the burrows of the spider with chevrons on the abdomen. Due to the heavy rain the night before, the road had become even more treacherous with large puddles and slippery mud. Michael handled the driving well and we stopped for a moment to check the blondi site for any signs of silk but it looked as though she had moved on during the night. Driving on, we bottomed out in the car on a particularly slippery part of the road so Andy, Paul and I vacated the car and Michael skidded his way up the worst section.

Walking up, we checked out the intended burrows but didn't work them, instead deciding to do that on the way down. The puddles were full of unusual frogs and toads, calling and mating. Paul checked out the surrounding area, Andy a forest trail and Michael and I decided to head down to one of the waterfall trails. Our main aim for this walk was frogs and we weren't disappointed! On the trail, Michael spotted a small ornate harlequin frog (Atlopus hoogmoedi) after I nearly trod on it!

Atlopus hoogmoedi

As we turned one of the trail corners, we were surprised to find a clearing in the trees that gave us a stunning viewpoint down over the forest and into Brownsweg. We paused here to photograph the harlequin frog. Moving on, we made our way down the path towards the waterfall. The path was steep and slippery without many supports and a couple of times we nearly fell over, me in front and Michael behind. At a particularly narrow point on the path just above the waterfall, I stopped in my tracks as I spotted another snake just where I was about to step. I recognized this one is time - another Labaria curled up neatly on the path. More photos followed, this time Michael using his decent camera and me shooting video of Michael moving it out of harms way.

Resting Labaria

We headed back onto the road and finally met up with Andy and Paul for lunch. They hadn't had much luck finding anything but just across the grass was a building either being built or in disrepair. On the centre post, made from a tree, was a 30cm tube web and inside, a large female Avicularia. We photographed her and again discussed the idea that there's only a handful of genuine Avicularia species with many regional colour variations.

After another cold drink, we wandered down the road to work on the theraphosid burrows. We focused on the largest and as the soil of the embankment was sand like, luckily digging was easy. After a few minutes Andy extracted another new spider; mainly brown in colour with a very faint chevron on the abdomen.

Unidentified sp. at burrow entrance

Unidentified sp. extracted

Andy drove the slippery road down the mountain, sometimes on 3 wheels and we guided him down through the most awkward sections. We walked down in stages checking the embankments but as the light was fading we decided to head back. I spotted another adult E. murinus burrow in the last minutes but as we'd finished our work on this species, we continued to drive down and back to Babunhol.

Day 18: After breakfast we walked down to investigate the silken retreat I had found the day before. Tickling failed and luckily the burrow was built in a rotting palm tree stump so after a few minutes of peeling away the wood, we potted up the spider; another juvenile E. murinus. While we were photographing it out on the path, Paul spotted something small moving close to Andy's shoe. On inspection we found another spider, this time a dwarf species; small with a chevron abdomen and a lighter patch on the abdomen that resembled a heart.

Juvenile Ephebopus murinus

We split up again and met up for lunch but none of us had much to report when we did. A lazy afternoon followed; our last one here at Babunhol.

Day 19: Packed and ready to leave by 08:30. Soon we were back at the Babunhol Resort office to settle our payment. They were pleased to hear we had had a successful time and I showed them some of the photos.

We eventually arrived at our final hotel and booked in. Nice to have air-con and Internet once more!

Guy, Michael, Paul and Andy with the prize Theraphosa blondi

More images and videos from this trip can be found here.

This article first appeared in the Journal of the British Tarantula Society, 29 (1): 32-48 (2014).