''Cyriocosmus leetzi'' also known as the Columbian dwarf tiger or Venezuelan dwarf beauty tarantula is a

tarantula 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 ...

which was first described by Fabian Vol in 1999. As its common names may suggest it is found in Colombia, with some people stating it is also 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 ...

Description

Females live from 5 to 7 years, while males live 2 to 3 years. They own a reddish brown

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the und ...

, and their

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma ( cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects ...

has a reddish orange color with 8 black lines radiating from the center of the

. They own black or grayish legs covered in light grey hairs, which also cover the

. All of this make them look quite similar to ''

Cyriocosmus nicholausgordoni ''Cyriocosmus'' is a genus of tarantulas that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1903. They are small to medium spiders, with a bicolored or one same color carapace. Diagnosis It differs from all other tarantulas by the paraembolic ...

.''

Habitat

One of the places this species have been found is in

Aguazul Aguazul () is a town and municipality in the Department of Casanare, Colombia. Its economy is dependent on oil, mainly Cupiagua and Cusiana fields. Other important products of its economy are livestock and rice. As of 2004, Leonel Torres has be ...

, Colombia, the region being very humid, and a

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

. Average temperatures of this area are 25ºC with average yearly rainfall of 1000mm to 3200mm depending on the area.

Behaviour

This species is known for being docile, and they also

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created b ...

quite a lot, being able to make complex tunnels. Whenever they feel scared, they would rather bolt to their hide instead of hiding or throwing hairs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1647166 Theraphosidae Fauna of Colombia Fauna of Venezuela Spiders of South America Spiders described in 1999