tarantula

plural tarantulas · plural tarantulae · alternative obsolete tarentula

1. Any of the large, hairy, mostly New World spiders comprising the family Theraphosidae.

   Cockroaches, centipedes, tarantulas, scorpions, and mosquitoes are abundant in summer. [...] Tarantulas and scorpions are little noticed by those who have been there any length of time.

   1857, John Askew, chapter II, in A Voyage to Australia & New Zealand, including a Visit to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Hunter’s River, Newcastle, Maitland, and Auckland; […], London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.; Cockermouth, Cumbria: D. Fidler, […], →OCLC, page 100

   5 more examples

   In the southern portions of the State we have met with specimens of brown tarantula weighing a full Troy ounce, but these were of unusual size. The wood tarantula is the largest of all, occasional specimens weighing an ounce and a half, inhabits dead wood, is very active on a warm day, is found of sunning himself, and is quite courageous, leaping on a large lizard, with a perfect recklessness of consequences. [From the Alta California.]

   1873 May 3, “The Tarantula—an Interesting Native of California”, in Friends' Intelligencer, volume XXX, number 10, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Comly, publishing agent, […]; Merrihew & Son, printers, […], published 1873–1874, →OCLC, page 156, column 2

   The other Californian species of notable spiders belonging to the Theraphosidae are: The great tarantula of Southern California, Arizona, and Texas, and the lesser tarantula belonging to the middle of California. The use of the word "tarantula" is rather wide and dubious in application. While the tarantula of the Southern States is of the same family as the true tarantula of Spain—Lycosidæ—the Californian tarantula is of the Theraphosidæ (Mygalidæ). In fact the name carries with it no meaning of value because in each locality the name is bestowed upon the largest hairy spider of the region, irrespective of its classification or habits.

   1892 January, J. J. Rivers, “Description of the Nest of the Californian Turret Building Spider, with Some Reference to Allied Species”, in Townshend Stith Brandegee, editor, Zoe: A Biological Journal, volume II, number 4, San Francisco, Calif.: Zoe Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 319

   Visitors to Southern Arizona find the privacy of their homes invaded in a delightfully free and easy way by the original settlers of that region, namely the scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas, etc. [...]

   1910 November, C. L. Edholm, “A Queer Pet”, in H[enry] H[aven] Windsor, editor, Popular Mechanics Magazine, volume 14, number 5, Chicago, Ill.: Popular Mechanics Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 616, column 2

   Clarabelle is a pinktoe tarantula—one of the very first tarantulas described by Western scientists. The gentle pinktoes were originally tree-dwelling forest tarantulas, but these days they're happy to build their silky retreats in the eaves of houses, in shrubs, and in the tube-like curves of pineapple leaves on plantations, too.

   2004, Sy Montgomery, “Expedition to Les Grottes”, in The Tarantula Scientist, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 42

   Tarantulas are found in parts of the United States and are frequently sold as pets. Tarantula bites usually do not cause significant envenomations but may cause local tissue swelling. Another hazard of tarantulas is that contact with the hairs of the back, which are released when the tarantula is distressed, can cause local skin reactions as well as a granulomatous reaction of the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye (ophthalmia nodosa) that requires urgent ophthalmologic attention. Dogs or cats that attempt to eat tarantulas may gag or vomit.

   2010, Peter M[acGarr] Rabinowitz, Lisa A. Conti, “Toxic Exposures”, in Human–Animal Medicine: Clinical Approaches to Zoonoses, Toxicants and Other Shared Health Risks, Maryland Heights, Mo.: Saunders Elsevier, →ISBN, page 81, column 1

   Synonyms: bird spider, monkey spider, rain spider

2. broadlyA member of certain other groups of spiders, generally characterized by large size, hairiness, or membership of infraorder Mygalomorphae to which Theraphosidae family also belongs.

   tergites: dorsal sclerites on the body; the hard plates on the abdomen of the atypical tarantulas that indicate segmentation

   2009, “Glossary”, in P. A. Sebastian, K. V. Peter, editors, Spiders of India, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh: Universities Press (India), →ISBN, page 428

   3 more examples

   The small funnel-web tarantulas are sedentary but notable for their aggressiveness and the strong action of their venom on human beings. A. robustus and formidabilis have caused human deaths.

   1971, Wolfgang Bücherl, “Spiders”, in Wolfgang Bücherl, Eleanor E[vans] Buckley, editors, Venomous Animals and Their Venoms, volume III (Venomous Invertebrates), New York, N.Y.; London: Academic Press, →ISBN, section IV (Description, Distribution, and Biology of Dangerous Species), page 225

   The name "tarantula" is also mistakenly applied to other large-bodied spiders, and the "dwarf tarantulas". Both are classified in different families. Huntsman spiders of the family have also been termed "tarantulas" because of their large size.

   2016 March 29, Josephine-De-France, “The Vicious”, in And Then There Are Bitches, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN

   The defining feature of MB Stadium, that fat steel tarantula crouched over downtown Atlanta, is its fancy retractable roof. According to the latest word from NFL officials, the roof IS expected to be open for Sunday’s game.

   2019 February 1, AJ Willingham, “How to watch the Super Bowl and actually keep up”, in CNN, archived from the original on 06 Oct 2022

3. datedA species of wolf spider, Lycosa tarantula, native to southern Europe, the mildly poisonous bite of which was once thought to cause an extreme urge to dance (tarantism).First known use mid 16th c.

   [I]t is better to be pained with the ſting of a Snake, and recouer, then be tickled with the venime of Tarantula and dye laughing: [...]

   1588, R[obert] Greene, “The Third Nights Exercise”, in Perimedes the Blacke Smith, a Golden Methode, how to Vse the Minde in Pleasant and Profitable Exercise: […], London: Printed by Iohn VVolfe, for Edward VVhite, →OCLC

   5 more examples

   Many men catch this malady [i.e., melancholy] by [...] ſtinging with that kind of ſpider called Tarantula; [...] Their ſymptomes are merrily deſcribed by Iovianus Pontanus. Ant. dial. how they daunce alogether, and are cured by Muſick.

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “An Heape of Other Accidents Causing Melancholy. Death of Friends, Losses, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 7, page 151

   A Tarantula is a venemous Spider, ſo call'd from Tarentum, an ancient City of Magna Gracia, upon the Ionian Sea. Thoſe who are once bit by it, are never quite cur'd of the Venom; for it revives every Year, and occaſions a long Series of Evils, which would be very annoying to the Patients, if they did not take due Care of their Health by Dancing and Balls.

   1723, Giorgio Baglivi, “A Dissertation of the Anatomy, Bitings, and Other Effects of the Venemous Spider, Call’d, Tarantula”, in The Practice of Physick, Reduc’d to the Ancient Way of Observations: […] Together with Several New and Curious Dissertations; Particularly of the Tarantula, and the Nature of Its Poison: […] Written in Latin, 2nd edition, London: Printed for D. Midwinter, B. Lintot, G[eorge] Strahan, J. Round, W[illiam] Taylor, J. Osborn, and J. Clark, →OCLC, chapter I (The Etymology of the Name, and the Several Sorts of Tarantula’s), page 314

   On May 7, 1812, during my stay at Valencia, in Spain, I took, without hurting him, a tarantula of tolerable size, which I imprisoned in a glass covered over with paper, in which I had made a square opening. [...] He quickly accustomed himself to his cell, and ended by becoming so familiar, that he would come to eat out of my fingers the living fly that I brought him. [Translated from the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 1835.]

   1837 February, Leon Dufour, “Art. II. Observations upon the Tarantula (Lycòsa Taréntula).”, in Edward Charlesworth, editor, The Magazine of Natural History, and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology, volume I, number 2 (New Series), London: Printed [by A[ndrew] Spottiswoode] for Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 72

   We [...] passed the night at a spring in a valley of the Kalkan hills, which literally swarmed with snakes, tarantulæ, scorpions, and other reptiles; for a long time after I could not shake off the recollection of that horrible resting-place.

   1865, Captain Valikhanof [i.e., Shoqan Walikhanov], “Sketches of Travels in Dzungaria, by Capt. Valikhanof”, in John and Robert Michell, transl., The Russians in Central Asia: […] Translated from the Russian, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, pages 74–75

   I must confess they're my favorite. So bright. They quickly recognize individuals. And they respond to kindness. All tarantulae do. That's why your little Lycosa made such a good pet, Robin.

   1996, Jonathan Kellerman, chapter 7, in The Web (Alex Delaware; 10), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN; republished London: Headline Publishing Group, 2008, →ISBN