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Sticker of Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula
Bug card No. 4432 of 4,939

Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula

Cyriocosmus elegans
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersRainforests and jungles8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula is a tiny tarantula from Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. Most tarantulas are big, but this one fits easily in the palm of your hand, legs and all. It lives in a burrow it digs in the ground.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, in burrows in the ground
Top speed
about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It hunts small insects. Even its babies can eat fruit flies.
For real!Photo of Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula
Picture by Morkelsker. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

From the tip of one leg to the tip of the opposite leg, a grown-up one is only about 4 to 5 centimetres across.

2

It grows up fast for a tarantula. Some are fully grown in just one year.

3

Its babies are tiny, only about 2 to 3 millimetres across with their legs.

you asked

Most asked questions about Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula

?How big is the Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula?

With its legs spread out, it is only about 4 to 5 centimetres across, which is very small for a tarantula.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Cyriocosmus elegans
Group
Spiders
Family
Theraphosidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
Lives on
South America

Where the facts come from

  1. Cyriocosmus elegans (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 Morkelsker. Public domain, 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: Rainforests and jungles

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