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tarantula

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tarantula

1. any of various large hairy mostly tropical spiders of the American family Theraphosidae
2. a large hairy spider, Lycosa tarentula of S Europe, the bite of which was formerly thought to cause tarantism
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tarantula

[tə′ran·chə·lə]
(invertebrate zoology)
Any of various large hairy spiders of the araneid suborder Mygalomorphae.
Any of the wolf spiders comprising the family Lycosidae.

Tarantula

[tə′ran·chə·lə]
(astronomy)
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

tarantula

spider with a deadly venom. [Zoology: NCE, 2695]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Tarantula

 

any of several species of the family Lycosidae (the wolf spiders). Tarantulas live in holes as deep as 60 cm and hunt insects at night. All tarantulas are more or less poisonous but are not dangerous to man.

The USSR has one species, Lycosa singoriensis. It is up to 3.5 cm long and lives in deserts, semideserts, and forest steppes. It reproduces at the end of summer; the female lays eggs in an egg sac, which she guards. After hatching, the young spiders perch on the female’s abdomen, remaining there for some time. The bite of L. singoriensis is as painful as the sting of a hornet and causes swelling.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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