''Ischnocolus valentinus'' is a small, old-world

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 ...

. It is found in Spain, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. It is the only species of true tarantula to occur in continental Europe. It is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

of the genus ''

Ischnocolus ''Ischnocolus'' is a genus of tarantulas that was first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871. This tarantula genus includes some of the smallest in the family. Diagnosis Males of this genus can be distinguished by the palpal bulb morphology, wh ...

''. It is found in Mediterranean scrub with oaks and bushes, hiding under large flattish stones. The species originally called the tarantula in Europe is ''

Lycosa tarantula ''Lycosa tarantula'' is the species originally known as the tarantula, a name that nowadays in English commonly refers to spiders in another family entirely, the Theraphosidae. It now may be better called the tarantula wolf spider, being in the ...

'', a large species of

wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or ...

.The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed.(2009), Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company. " edieval Latin, from Old Italian ''tarantola'', after .

References

Theraphosidae Spiders of Africa Spiders of Europe Taxa named by Léon Jean Marie Dufour Spiders described in 1820 {{Theraphosidae-stub