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Sticker of Mexican rose tarantula
Bug card No. 2857 of 4,939

Mexican rose tarantula

Aphonopelma pallidum
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersDeserts and dry places8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Mexican rose tarantula is a big hairy spider from Mexico. The grown-up male has brown legs and a dull rose grey front part. That soft pinkish grey colour gave it its name.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Mexico
Length
5 to 5.5 cm (2 to 2.2 in)
Top speed
about 1.4 km/h (0.87 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other tarantulas, it hunts insects and other small animals.
For real!Photo of Mexican rose tarantula
Picture by Jonathan Rodriguez. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Mexican rose tarantula about 5.5 cm long (2.2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 9 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.6 seconds

How big is Mexican rose tarantula compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is listed as threatened in Mexico, so it needs protecting.

2

It is not sold as a pet. For a while another tarantula was sold under its name by mistake, until that one got its own name in 2003.

3

Its body alone is about 5 centimetres long, as long as a grown-up's thumb.

you asked

Most asked questions about Mexican rose tarantula

?How big is the Mexican rose tarantula?

Its body is about 50 to 55 millimetres long, not counting the legs.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Aphonopelma pallidum
Group
Spiders
Family
Theraphosidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Rose-grey tarantula

Where the facts come from

  1. Aphonopelma pallidum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Jonathan Rodriguez. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Spiders

Also at home here: Deserts and dry places

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