Bug card No. 3141 of 4,939

Orange tree tarantula

Amazonius germani

Eats: Other bugs and small animals SpidersRainforests and jungles8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The orange tree tarantula is a hairy tarantula from the warm north of South America. For years scientists mixed it up with another tarantula. Only in 2022 did it finally get its very own name.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!

Lives in

French Guiana and Brazil, in South America

Top speed

about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)

On foot, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Can bite

Spiders are venomous! Read about spider venom on Venom Wiki →

Photo of Orange tree tarantula — Picture by Quengsalinas. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)

Orange tree tarantula 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

In 1994 a scientist described a spider from French Guiana but gave it the wrong name. Other scientists copied his mistake.

In 2022 scientists saw that it was really a new species and named it Amazonius germani.

It belongs to the tarantula family, the biggest and hairiest spiders in the world.

you asked

Most asked questions about Orange tree tarantula

?Where does the orange tree tarantula live?

In French Guiana and Brazil in South America.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Amazonius germani
Group: Spiders
Family: Theraphosidae
Classification: Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
Lives on: South America

Where the facts come from

Amazonius germani (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 Quengsalinas. CC BY-SA 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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