Bug card No. 1355 of 1,500
Togo starburst baboon spider
Heteroscodra maculata
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersRainforests and jungles8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin
This tarantula is chalky white with black and brown blotches, like a starry pattern. It has very thick back legs. It lives up in the trees in West Africa and is very fast.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
West Africa, mainly Togo and Ghana, up in the trees
What does it eat?
Like other tarantulas, it hunts insects and other small animals.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Togo starburst baboon spider about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
With its legs spread out it can measure up to 13 centimetres across.
2
It takes about 3 years to grow up.
3
Grown-ups live in trees, but the babies dig burrows in the ground for their first few months.
4
One egg sac can hold between 75 and 130 baby spiders.
you asked
Most asked questions about Togo starburst baboon spider
?How big is the Togo starburst tarantula?
Its leg span can reach about 13 centimetres.
?Where does the Togo starburst tarantula live?
In West Africa, mainly Togo and Ghana, where it climbs in trees.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Heteroscodra maculata
- Named by
- Pocock, 1899
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Theraphosidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Togo starburst, Ornamental baboon
Where the facts come from
- Heteroscodra maculata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Greg Hume. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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