# found black tarantula western Australia



## artpty (Aug 3, 2011)

Hi all, i found a allover black tarantula about 120mm leg span in perth western australia. the spider is like velvet balack all over, no other colurs exept under the body at the top of the leg where it joins the body there is a round bald round pink dot, one on each leg.
i could not beleve my eyes when it popped out of a metal pipe about 3 feet up a wall of a tin shed. the location is surrounded by native bush and joins a 
C container yard. i'm thinking it may have come in from over sea's maybe.

Can any one think of what it could be?

I put the spider into a choc milk container to take home but a co worker released it back into bush land, i could have killed him!
The spider looked almost like it was a toy, amazing soft jet black and i cant seen to fine a picture of it any where on the net.


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## Treknotechelaps (Aug 3, 2011)

Sounds like it could be a Whistling Spider _Selenocosmia stirlingi_ which are widespread from WA through the centre to Qld and south to western Vic, but i could be wrong, i'm no Arachnologist. There are other species of Aussie Tarantulas, mostly from Queensland tho.
Great looking spiders, could even psych myself up to having one as a pet.


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## richoman_3 (Aug 3, 2011)

hey mate, get some pics up and ill tell you if its even a tarantula,
alot of trapdoors that look very similiar to tarantulas, espicially where you are 

@elapo: it wont be a stirlingi, nor any other T's you would find in the hobby 
and stirlingi just like every other arid aussie T is a light brown colour


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## artpty (Aug 3, 2011)

Didnt have a chance to take any pic's
the colour was a jet black all over and it had a window box spider type web at the opening of the metal pipe. it looked very tarantula like with thick legs and rounded feet. this is the biggest spider i ever seen over here in WA. the only hope of ID would be the 8 pink dots under the body at the end of the legs. by far the best looking T i have ever seen.

checked out the selenocosmia wrong colour and shape.
the trapdoor spider is also way out in the shape department and looks totaly different the the spider i found.
the closest T i've found to it is the Brazilian Black, but the brazilian seems to have much longer hair over its body and legs. this one had very short velvet like hair and the colour was the same all over jet black not dark grey or brown. i can't seem to find a photo of the under side of the Brazilian Black to see if it has the pink dots...


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## K3nny (Aug 4, 2011)

artpty said:


> the only hope of ID would be the 8 pink dots under the body at the end of the legs. by far the best looking T i have ever seen.



try googling pink toed tarantula

hope its not tho as thats an exotic as well, although with that description it could be anything really


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## snakeluvver (Aug 4, 2011)

If its pitch black it doesnt sound like any T I know, it couldve been a Funnelweb or a Trapdoor (there are many species of trappy).
It wont be a pink toe.


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## Klaery (Aug 4, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> If its pitch black it doesnt sound like any T I know, it couldve been a Funnelweb or a Trapdoor (there are many species of trappy).
> It wont be a pink toe.



Not if it is climbing up a tin shed.

If you are certain it was a tarantula (sorry I had to say.. Get asked all too often what type of tarantula somebody's huntsman is) then it is very very interesting. The description and size you gives certainly sounds tarantula like.


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## snakeluvver (Aug 4, 2011)

danielk said:


> Not if it is climbing up a tin shed.


Sorry didnt read that bit, still arent there _some_ trapdoor species that can climb?


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## Klaery (Aug 4, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> Sorry didnt read that bit, still arent there _some_ trapdoor species that can climb?



To a very small degree though they would definately have a lot of trouble with a verticle smooth surface. They won't be 120mm either


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## artpty (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks everyone for getting back to me.
yes the spider was found about door handle hight in the door way of a big tin shed sournded by a gravel car park. at first i thought window box spider becouse of where is was and the black colour. but it didnt take long to realise the shape and size made it some thing new i've never seen before. i'm 45 years old and grow up n the bush 100km west of perth and though i had seen it all and this was big and tarantul like it didnt have legs that thined to a point it had big thick legs and rounded ends pad like. most of all the thing that realy stood out was its size or mass (all over big) i've seen thousands of huntsmen and other spiders and this was a new one for me.


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## richoman_3 (Aug 4, 2011)

knowing the knowledge we have of Western australian inverts, its possible it is a T, but i have heard of big black trappys down there aswell


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## artpty (Aug 4, 2011)

Havn't been able to find a pic as yet, that looks even close. the steel pipe it was in had a funnel wed at the entrance, know sign of a trap. so i'm thinking it can only be one of two thing- a new species or it come in on a C container from over seas. but if the second is true, why cant i find a photo of it. the 8 pinlk dots on the under side was such a stand out that it would have been documented by some one. so i must find it again i guess.


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## Kelly86 (Aug 5, 2011)

dont know anything bout spiders  but could it have been a bird eating spider aka australian tarantula? lol just a thought


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## Treknotechelaps (Aug 5, 2011)

It could be a Central of South American tarantula that escaped from captivity, tho I thought it was illegal to keep foreign species of spiders here. 
The pink spots, coming to think of, do relate to something ive seen on the Central/South American Tarantulas seen on a TV doco.
Possibly an undescribed species.


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## snakeluvver (Aug 5, 2011)

Kelly86 said:


> dont know anything bout spiders  but could it have been a bird eating spider aka australian tarantula? lol just a thought


There are many species of tarantulas, and we already know its probably a tarantula.


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## richoman_3 (Aug 5, 2011)

Id HIGHLY doubt its a new species.
Western Australian species have been documented but because you can not collect from there, there is hardly any photos of WA invertebrates (they have by far the most)
from your description it could be anything... and btw, not much sites will help you with an ID, none actually


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## ex_oh_ex (Aug 5, 2011)

IMO the brazillian black tarantula is closes to what u have described. They also have that velvet look.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...ust_Moulted_Club_Gpulchra2_by_pitbulllady.jpg


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## Kelly86 (Aug 5, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> There are many species of tarantulas, and we already know its probably a tarantula.



i said bird eating spider........


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## richoman_3 (Aug 5, 2011)

Kelly86 said:


> i said bird eating spider........


exact same thing lol

and just saying 'tarantula or bird eating spider' wont help lol


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## Kelly86 (Aug 5, 2011)

lol well then!! excussssssssssse me lol, jokes  fair enough, i only seen one once in a pet shop


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## snakeluvver (Aug 5, 2011)

Kelly86 said:


> lol well then!! excussssssssssse me lol, jokes  fair enough, i only seen one once in a pet shop


lol its okay. People say "Australian Tarantula" but that isnt actually a species, there are many australian species of tarantula but they all get lumped as "australian tarantula or bird eating spider" to avoid confusion.
TBH, no Aussie T's really have any common names.


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## richoman_3 (Aug 5, 2011)

did it look like this black one in here?

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/...udies-5373/goldfields-wa-herping-trip-152508/


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## Kelly86 (Aug 5, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> lol its okay. People say "Australian Tarantula" but that isnt actually a species, there are many australian species of tarantula but they all get lumped as "australian tarantula or bird eating spider" to avoid confusion.
> TBH, no Aussie T's really have any common names.



haha ok, lucky i actually typed i didnt know anything about spiders lol...


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## snakeluvver (Aug 5, 2011)

Kelly86 said:


> haha ok, lucky i actually typed i didnt know anything about spiders lol...


Haha dont worry the invert hobby in Aus is very small so unless your into inverts you wouldnt know.


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## SouthernKnights (Aug 5, 2011)

artpty;20. i'm 45 years old and grow up n the bush 100km west of perth and though i had seen it all and this was big and tarantul like it didnt have legs that thined to a point it had big thick legs and rounded ends pad like. most of all the thing that realy stood out was its size or mass (all over big) .[/QUOTE said:


> I agree, wish there was a photo!
> Not nit picking but isn't 100km west of Perth the indian ocean? Not a lot of bush i would have thought.


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## ekipkcorb (Aug 5, 2011)

haha


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## artpty (Aug 5, 2011)

lol yes about 90km out in the ocean.... typo i meant east, out back of york, dont no why i put west.
had a look a Richman's phot but to hard to tell look a bit skinny and bald. im hopping to find another one this weekend and this time i will have a camera.

got a question for you guys... are tarantulas found in cold climates?
because at the moment it get down to about 3c at night over here.


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## Niall (Aug 5, 2011)

Are you sure it wasn't a wishbone spider?
Had this small male wishbone wonder into the yard a couple of weeks ago, maybe the one you found was a female?


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## richoman_3 (Aug 5, 2011)

thank you for posting that Niall!
i was looking through your threads to find a similiar pic!

those wishbone trappys look EXACTLY like T's so you can see how people are mistaken, also they can climb aswell


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## dihsmaj (Aug 5, 2011)

_Aname atra_?


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## Niall (Aug 5, 2011)

Haha I was hoping he had uploading a photo.
Thought I would post the photos up, becasue from what he has said it sounds alot like the one in the photo.

Body shot.


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## Echiopsis (Aug 5, 2011)

If its as big as you say its introduced, theres nothing even close in Perth. The fact it was that far off the ground in a web rules out Aname and most other local mygals. Ive found Theraphosids a couple of hours from Perth but they arent black and they wont be living off the ground.

Exageration aside, if its even half as big as you say and living off the ground its not native to Perth.


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## artpty (Aug 5, 2011)

close, but the legs are a bit skinny at the feet end and yes the one i found was 3 feet of the ground and inside a steel pipe no trap door just a open web.
but great photo... thanks 
i estimated the size by the way it sat on the bottom of the choc milk container, it filled the bottom area and its legs were still bent. so i guess give or take 30mm, how big does this Aname grow? because at the smallest this spider was 90mm and no way any small than that.


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## cracksinthepitch (Aug 6, 2011)

Echiopsis said:


> If its as big as you say its introduced, theres nothing even close in Perth. The fact it was that far off the ground in a web rules out Aname and most other local mygals. Ive found Theraphosids a couple of hours from Perth but they arent black and they wont be living off the ground.
> 
> Exageration aside, if its even half as big as you say and living off the ground its not native to Perth.


Never heard of Selenotholus sp "black". Described species but very few pictures available, try the Wa museum or Qld museum sites.
Needless to say but we need lots of pics mate, could be very exciting.
I have emailed the W.A. museum to try and get a pic .


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## Niall (Aug 6, 2011)

cracksinthepitch said:


> Never heard of Selenotholus sp "black". Described species but very few pictures available, try the Wa museum or Qld museum sites.
> Needless to say but we need lots of pics mate, could be very exciting.
> I have emailed the W.A. museum to try and get a pic .



Wouldn't mind to see the photo they send you.

I also found this guy in the Goldfields south of Coolgardie last time I was there on a field trip.
It would be around 9cm from the Back left leg to the right front leg.
I still have it in a container, I just haven't been bothered to get a ID for it


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## crail4 (Aug 6, 2011)

could have been a phlogius sarana?


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## richoman_3 (Aug 6, 2011)

crail4 said:


> could have been a phlogius sarana?



no.

it could of even been a postmoult T?
im really doubting it is a T anway


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## crail4 (Aug 6, 2011)

Funnelweb? theres arboreal ones?


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## Niall (Aug 6, 2011)

It will be some sort of trapdoor/ wishbone spider.


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## richoman_3 (Aug 6, 2011)

look like this? Spider ID | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## Niall (Aug 6, 2011)

That looks like the one I posted up at the start, it was around the same size aswell.


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## richoman_3 (Aug 6, 2011)

yeah there is ALOT of trappys that look like T's in WA


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## Niall (Aug 6, 2011)

Sure do,
Thought this guy was a T when I first saw it and its home.


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## artpty (Aug 6, 2011)

the flicker photo is spot on with colour and vevet look, but the shape is wrong and most of all no pink dots on the ends of the legs. although it does have two dots on the abdomen, the spider i found had 8 dots on the legs, not the abdomen.

also pads on the feet and thick legs all the way down, not pointy or tappered


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## cracksinthepitch (Aug 11, 2011)

We really need picks of the spider mate, Would be awesome to see a W.A T alive.

Just Got this from Dr Robert Raven (Australias foremost spider expert)
[FONT=&quot]OK, in Perth, it is not a T but Idiommata blackwalli, a large beautiful black Brush-footed trapdoor, Barychelidae. Please post this info and the attached onto the list.

Many thanks

Robert

[/FONT]

Ok here's a pic from Raven its in the pdf file attached


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