''Harpactira cafreriana'' otherwise known as the Cape copper baboon or amber baboon tarantula spider 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. It is found in South Africa, being terrestrial or semi-

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

in nature.

Description

Females

Females of this species live from around 10 to 12 years under proper care, owning a far duller coloration than what can be seen in the males. Most of the body is a dark brown or grey color, covered with copper coloration all around the body, being stronger the closer it is to 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 ...

. Alongside the males, this tarantula is covered in grayish hairs.

Male

Males live from around 2 to 3 years under proper care, they own a far more brighter coloration than the females looking to be almost golden in coloration. All their body is the same coloration, although owning some black striping in the

and a black fish bone patter in the opisthosoma, which are covered in grey hairs alongside the legs.

Habitat

This section will be based on Bontebok National Park, as it's close to the type locality of this species. This Black wattle area has a temperate climate, with an average of 377mm of yearly rainfall. The average temperature is 20ºC with animals such as Cape Fox,

Bontebok The bontebok (''Damaliscus pygargus'') is an antelope found in South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. ''D. pygargus'' has two subspecies; the nominate subspecies (''D. p. pygargus''), occurring naturally in the Fynbos and Renosterveld areas of the W ...

and Aardwolf. With plants such as

Breede River Yellowwood ''Podocarpus elongatus'', the Breede River yellowwood, is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. In contrast to other yellowwood species of southern Africa, ''Podocarpus elongatus'' often resembles an enormous, round, multi-stemmed bu ...

, Black Wattle and

Sweet Thorn ''Vachellia karroo'', commonly known as the sweet thorn, common acacia, Karoo thorn, Cape gum or cockspur thorn, is a species of ''Vachellia'', native to southern Africa from southern Angola east to Mozambique, and south to South Africa. It is ...

, making it a pretty diverse area.

Behavior

They are terrestrial tarantulas, sometimes showing semi-

behavior, they web quite a lot and are usually visible. They are surprisingly calm considering they are part of the

Harpactirinae The Harpactirinae (commonly called baboon spiders) are a subfamily of tarantulas which are native to the continent of Africa. Like many Old World tarantulas, they have a relatively strong venom, and can inflict a painful bite. Description Harp ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

, though when scared they are fast and will run away instead of being defensive.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2221174 Spiders described in 1837 Theraphosidae Spiders of South Africa