Females, on the other hand, often produce eggs for 25 years or more. Even if the male escapes being eaten by the female, he will still die within a few months. His death will give the female a needed boost of nutrition, as she must now produce 500 to 1,000 eggs and a silk cocoon where the eggs will be protected. The male must then participate in a dangerous mating dance, wherein he fends off the female, who wishes to devour him, by using hooks on his front legs. To alert the female of his presence, the male taps one of his legs against the ground until the female emerges. Tarantulas are solitary animals there is only one spider in this burrow. The male follows the scent of a female tarantula to the receptive female's burrow, which she has typically excavated in dry, sandy soil and lined with silk webbing. Should you observe a desert tarantula in Joshua Tree National Park this autumn, it is likely to be a male in search of a mate. When a male tarantula reaches sexual maturity, between eight and ten years of age, he begins a journey that will both aid the survival of his species and cost him his life. Although this outcome may seem grisly from our human perspective, nature knows only one standard: survival. Upon hatching, the wasp larvae will eat the tarantula alive. The wasp then seals its paralyzed prey inside the burrow. ![]() A single tarantula hawk can sting and paralyze a tarantula, drag the spider back to a prepared burrow, and lay eggs upon the still-living creature's abdomen. However, the most ferocious is the tarantula hawk, a large, metallic blue and orange wasp. Tarantulas have many natural predators including larger lizards, snakes, and birds. When cornered by a predator, the tarantula will rub its hind legs over its abdomen, brushing hairs into its enemy's eyes. Many tarantulas have a bald spot on the abdomen as a result of a unique defensive behavior. ![]() Besides its eight legs, the basic sections of a tarantula's body are its cephalothorax (a fused head and thorax, or chest) and its abdomen. Tarantulas, the largest spiders in North America, are typically two to three inches long and are covered with thousands of fine hairs ranging in color from tan to dark brown. ![]() One of the species that best embodies this relationship between life and death is the desert tarantula, Aphonopelma iodium. At no other time is the intimate connection between life and death represented so clearly. In the fall, these beautiful, creepy crawlers migrate to find a mate.Īutumn provides a brief glimpse into the workings of nature in the desert.
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