Texas Brown Tarantula
HarmlessAphonopelma hentzi · also called Oklahoma brown tarantula, Missouri tarantula
The Texas brown tarantula is the tarantula of the southern plains, and it is far more docile than its size suggests. In late summer, mature males wander in numbers looking for females and cross roads in what look like migrations — the usual reason people encounter one.
Quick facts
- Bite risk
- Harmless. A bite is comparable to a bee sting. The flicked abdominal hairs are the real nuisance — they irritate skin and are genuinely painful in the eyes, so do not handle one and then rub your face.
- Size
- Body 35–55 mm. Body up to two inches with a legspan around four inches — the largest spider most Americans will ever see.
- Appearance
- Large, heavy, uniformly dark brown and densely covered in hair. Slow and deliberate in movement, unlike almost every other large spider.
- Web
- Lives in a silk-lined burrow. Builds no catching web.
- Found in
- grassland, desert, woodpile
- Family
- Theraphosidae
- Range
- 9 US states
How to identify a texas brown tarantula
- Very large, heavy, uniformly dark brown and thickly furred.
- Moves slowly and deliberately.
- Lives in a burrow with a silk collar at the entrance.
- Mass wandering of males in late summer and autumn.
How it behaves
Nocturnal ambush hunter that sits at its burrow entrance. When threatened it flicks irritating hairs from its abdomen with its back legs rather than biting.
What the texas brown tarantula is confused with
One observation settles each of these.
Wolf spiders are much smaller, faster, and patterned. Tarantulas are heavy, plain and slow.
Where it lives
If you think you were bitten
- Most suspected spider bites are not spider bites. Studies of patients presenting with a “spider bite” repeatedly find that the large majority are bacterial skin infections — frequently MRSA — which need antibiotics rather than reassurance. A spreading, painful, pus-filled sore is far more likely to be an infection than a spider.
- Wash it, ice it, and watch it. Clean the area with soap and water, apply a cold pack, and keep an eye on it.
- Get medical care if the wound spreads or darkens, if you develop cramping, sweating, fever or severe abdominal pain, or if you are confident it was a widow or a recluse.
- Bring the spider only if it is already dead and to hand. Do not go looking for it. Doctors treat symptoms, not species.
In the US, the Poison Help line is 1-800-222-1222. This site is a reference, not medical advice.