Unknown spider in Masoala rainforest |
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map based on an image in the book "Masoala - das Auge des Waldes" |
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| During the three weeks of my stay in the Masoala rainforest in october 2005 I found a beautiful spider that seems to be unknown so far. The place, marked with an orange circle in the map above, is located in the north of Ambodiforaha. At least neither the local guides nor some foreign researcher had seen this species before. The spider measured about 5 cm (without legs) and showed a very bright red-orange colour with black parts on the belly side. The colour of the upper side was less intense, the carapace showed a light brown. The spider looked like a tarantula that lives in trees (e.g. Avicularia versicolor): Rather small abdomen, big adhesive hairy parts on the legs, very active behaviour. But the chelicera are undoubtedly labidognath so it cannot be a tarantula. The position of the eyes on the front of the carapace is also completely different compared with tarantulas. In the meantime I found by accident two images on the internet showing a spider that looks very similar to the one I found. The spider is there called Megaloremmius leo. By the way, the spiders on these photos resemble each other, it seems as if it was the same animal and even the same branch that it is sitting on... Links to these images: treespider 1 treespider 2 |
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all photos are protected by copyright and may only be used with permission of the author
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