v10i2.259

ISSN: 1800-427X (printed)
eISSN: 1800-427X (online)
DOI:10.47605/tapro.v10i2.259

Submitted date: 9 May 2021
Accepted date: 7 November 2021
Published date: 22 November 2021
Pp. 123, pl. 26.

Slate-red tarantula (Poecilotheria rufilata) in the Western Ghats, India

K. Sunil Jose*
*E-mail: sunil.jose@devamatha.ac.in

The Slate-red tree spider (or tarantula), Poecilotheria rufilata Pocock, 1899 is an extremely rare, endemic, little known tarantula described based on a female specimen from Thiruvananthapuram Kerala, India. This arboreal tree spider is mostly found in dead red pine, jack fruit, and white pine trees and recorded from Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve, Peppara Dam, Kallar, and Ponmudi areas between 900–1200 m elevations in Kerala. It is morphologically similar to P. ornata Pocock, 1899, which is distributed in Sri Lanka.

Section Editor: Zeeshan A. Mirza