Araneidae, Trichonephila clavipes

This is a gorgeous spider widespread over

the Island, from the coasts to the mountains.

The females reach 35mm, the males only 7mm.

Females sometimes makes very big webs with

over than 1mt in diameter. On their webs

there are some parasites, other spiders

from the genus Argyrodes (fam. Theridiidae)

they are very small and feed with nephilas

without get detected on the web, because of

their extremely slow motion. One Argyrodes

it's visible in the first picture.

During copulation...

Immature Female

Male

Dipluridae, Ischnothele garcia

A beautiful specimen from the family Dipluridae.

They are difficult to find among the forest.

They are very fast and makes big funnel webs

at the base of trees or between rocks, in the dry south-west region.

Females reach 16mm and males 12mm.

Araneidae, Argiope species.

Widespread throughout the island, mostly near the coastal areas.

The web construction have a structure in the center

named Stabilimenta, the immatures makes it like a spiral,

while the adults make an X shaped and the A. trifasciata

make a vertical line.

Argiope argentata 

Female

Argiope argentata

Female

Argiope trifasciata

Female

Male

    

Theraphosidae, Cyrtopholis cursor

Theraphosidae

Subfamily: Theraphosinae

This is a burrowing tarantula, they can dig more than 30cm deep.

The size of the female is 50mm and the male 30mm.

Normally their are very aggressive and people believe

that they can kill. I have been bitten once, it was like a

bee sting and one hour later the venom effect disappear.

Male

Females

    

Tetragnathidae, Leucauge licina

This beautiful spider can be found among low bushes,

in shady areas with high humidity.

The female can reach 11 mm and the male 8.

This one have parasites.

Theraphosidae, undetermined species

Theraphosidae

Subfamily: Theraphosinae

Small brown Tarantula found in 1992 at 3000mt.

It was a mature female with a body length of 30mm.

Very docile. One of my favorite !

Theraphosidae, Phormictopus sp. undetermined.

Theraphosidae

Subfamily: Theraphosinae

I've found it in 1992 on the mountains at more than 500 mt.

It's a quite docile Tarantula.

This is a mature female with 70mm in body lenght, in the

second picture while eating an Anolis.

Sparassidae, Heteropoda venatoria

This is one of the most common spiders on the island, 

it can be found from the coast till the mountains. 

They like to feed on cockroaches and crickets. 

People get scared when see them running on walls, 

they think the spider can jump to attack. 

The female can reach 28mm and 12cm with the legs extended,

the male 21mm with same leg extension of the female.

Males

Females

Theraphosidae - Phormictopus sp.

Theraphosidae
Subfamily: Theraphosinae

Phormictopus sp. found in the north coast.
The body shape looks different from other Phormictopus sp.
The legs are relatively small and thin.

Juveniles from 2nd until 6th Instar.

Into the caves of the East Region.

The first spider it's a beautiful species wide spread

throughout the tropics of the world but it's the first 

one I found in all these years of research. 

Zosis geniculata from the family Uloboridae. 

It's about 7 mm in body lenght, 18 mm with legs. 

The male it's extremely small, only 2 millimeters. 

Next spider it was a big surprise and emotion, other new

discovery, a small member of the family Segestriidae,

probably from the genus Ariadna.

Unfortunately I didn't find any male. This female it was only 8 mm.

The last spider it's the Loxosceles caribbaea from the

family Sicariidae. The female reach 8 mm and the male 6 mm,

both sexes have the same color.

They are very dangerous to humans for their strong venom.