The Antilles pinktoe tarantula (''Caribena versicolor''), also known as the Martinique red tree spider or the Martinique pinktoe is popular as a

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

pet because of its docile character and unique coloration. Previously placed in the genus ''

Avicularia ''Avicularia'' is a genus of the family Theraphosidae containing various species of arboreal tarantulas. The genus is native to Panama, the Caribbean and tropical South America. Each species in the genus has very distinguishable pink foot pads. ...

'', ''C. versicolor'' is native to

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. Antilles pinktoe tarantulas are

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

(tree-dwelling). They spin elaborate funnel webs in which they spend most of their time. Spiderlings of ''C. versicolor'' are bright blue, with a black tree trunk pattern on the abdomen. As they grow, they gradually lose their blue coloration; the

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), 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 tor ...

turns green, the abdomen red, and the legs turn green with pink tarsi and a covering of purple hairs. Males usually are slightly more brightly colored than females. As in most tarantula species, males do not grow as large as females, and their abdomens are smaller than those of females, even in proportion to their size.

Taxonomy

''Mygale versicolor'' was first described by

Charles Athanase Walckenaer Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist. Biography Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Glasgow ...

in 1837. In the description, Walckenaer used a female he said was from

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

and a male from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. However, the two actually belong to different species. This causes nomenclatural problems, since when later workers synonymized ''Mygale versicolor'' or transferred it to another genus, they may have ultimately based their decisions on either the female or the male. Caroline Fukushima and Bertani in 2017 treated ''Mygale versicolor'' as the female specimen (actually believed to be from

), designating a

neotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

. On this basis, it is synonymous with ''Avicularia rutilans''. It was transferred to the genus ''

'' by

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider taxonomist in history, describing over 4, ...

in 1892 and to the new genus ''

Caribena ''Caribena'' is a genus of spiders in the family Theraphosidae (tarantulas), found in the Antilles. The two species accepted were formerly placed in ''Avicularia''. Apart from a different distribution – ''Avicularia'' species are found in mai ...

'' in 2017.

Distribution

The Antilles pinktoe tarantula is native to parts of the Lesser Antilles islands. It can be found on the island of Martinique.

Gallery

File:Caribena versicolor 8 Fh.jpg, File:CaribenaVersicolorOnASovietKopeck.jpg, Versicolor baby is blue. Coin size at the background is 15mm in size. File:Caribena versicolor eating.jpg,

References

External links

Caring for Avicularia versicolorTarantulas of the Genus Avicularia
* Photos o

and other 1
Avicularia
species in gallery o
tarantulas

Antilles Pink Toed Tarantula
- description
Avicularia Versicolor , Martinique Pink Toe Tarantula Care
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q67885143, from2=Q134779 Theraphosidae Arthropods of Guadeloupe Endemic fauna of Martinique Spiders of the Caribbean