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Ornamental Tarantulas
Poecilotheria
Poecilotheria is a genus of tarantulas native to India and Sri Lanka. It was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1885. They are arboreal tarantulas, commonly known as ornamental tarantulas, known for their vivid color patterns, fast movement, and potent venom compared to other tarantulas. As of 2019 all species are protected under CITES.
The genus name is a combination of the Ancient Greek "poikilos" (ποικίλος), meaning "spotted", and therion" (θηρίον), meaning "wild beast".
15 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Indian Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria regalis
Fringed Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria ornata
Tiger Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria tigrinawesseli
Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria metallica
Ivory Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria subfusca
Sri Lankan Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria fasciata
Ghost Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria vittata
redslate ornamental tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria rufilata
Rameshwaram Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria hanumavilasumica
Mysore Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria striata
Salem Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria formosa
Yellow-backed Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria smithi
Bengal Spotted Ornamental Tarantula
speciesPoecilotheria miranda
Poecilotheria srilankensis
speciesPoecilotheria srilankensis
Poecilotheria rajaei
speciesPoecilotheria rajaei
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Poecilotheria in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 91195.