''Avicularia variegata'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

in the family

Theraphosidae Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although m ...

found in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Previously described as ''Avicularia avicularia variegata'', it is

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with ''Avicularia bicegoi''. When sold as pets, various English names have been associated with the scientific names of this species. As ''A. avicularia variegata'', it has been called the grizzled pinktoe. As ''A. bicegoi'', English names often refer to the red hairs on the abdomen of one colour form – Manaus brick-red rump tree spider, brick red pink toe.

Taxonomy

In 1896, Frederick O. Pickard-Cambridge described spiders he had observed during an expedition to the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

as the subspecies ''variegata'' of the species ''

Avicularia avicularia ''Avicularia avicularia'', sometimes called the pinktoe tarantula, is a species of tarantula native from Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago to Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. This species is sometimes called the Guyana p ...

''. He based the distinction on variations in colour, particularly of the leg hairs (setae), considering them insufficient to justify separation into two species. In 2017,

Caroline Fukushima Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica *Ca ...

and Rogério Bertani made a detailed study of the genus and concluded that there were other differences that did justify specific status. ''Avicularia variegata'' has legs I and IV of more-or-less the same length, ''Avicularia avicularia'' has the fourth leg more than 10% longer than the first leg, and in the female the

spermatheca The spermatheca (pronounced plural: spermathecae ), also called receptaculum seminis (plural: receptacula seminis), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, oligochaeta worms and certain othe ...

e of ''A. variegata'' are wider in the middle whereas those of ''A. avicularia'' are as wide in the middle as at the base. In 1923,

Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão (July 17, 1886 – December 14, 1948) was a Brazilian zoologist who is considered the founder of Arachnology in South America, publishing 198 papers on the taxonomy of Arachnida. He was also involved with educ ...

described ''Avicularia bicegoi''. Fukushima and Bertani considered this to be the same species as ''A. variegata''.

Distribution

''Avicularia variegata'' is found in

and the northern Brazilian states of

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

Amapá Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...

, Amazonas and

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana a ...

References

Theraphosidae Spiders described in 1896 Spiders of South America {{Theraphosidae-stub