Spider
Location: Austin, TX
January 5, 2011 10:54 am
Hello Bugman,
This spider was waiting for me at my front door when I got home from work last night. With legs spread, it’s probably 3 to 4 inches across. It moved rather slowly. I tried to search the web for identification, but every species I found that looked similar was not native to this area. Thanks for any information you can provide.
Signature: Jeff
Tarantula
Hi Jeff,
That is a very black Tarantula. We imagine it is in the genus Aphonopelma. According to the AgriLife Website: “There are 14 species of tarantulas in the genus, Aphonopelma, listed from Texas in a recent work. Identification of species is difficult and requires mature males, a microscope, proper literature and experience.”
Update:Â March 27, 2017
We will look into the possibility of this being a Trapdoor Spider.
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This is not a tarantula. This is a trap door species, I had the species named at one time when I also found one in front of my house. The shiny legs and hairless-ness is a sure sign of not being a tarantula.
Thanks for the correction on this old posting.
Good information. I found ome at the bottom of my pool and thought it was a tarantula. I now know it is a trap door spider. It had been at the bottom for several hours. After a while, it surprised me when it slowly started moving and eventually walked sway! Since then I’ve seen several more and even rescused some of his family members from the bottom of the pool. I live in sandy soil, SE of San Antonio.