Costa Rica Journal – Pt. 2 – M. Mesomelas

Windycity

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
117
Continued from Part 1.

On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I took a night walk in the Arenal Volcano National Park. This cloud forest park is in north central Costa Rica and is at a fairly high elevation of approximately 5300 feet above sea level. These high altitude parks are know as cloud forests (as opposed to rain forests) as it is not uncommon to look down from a mountain trail at these elevations and see wispy clouds racing by. We were told that many “red legged” tarantulas lived in the forest at these high elevations and I was anxious to see what species they were and to observe them in their natural habitat. By the way, Costa Rican’s seemed to refer to all tarantula species as the “pica caballo” or horse biter and not just the A. Seemani.

Also of interest, almost everyone I spoke with knew of the pica caballo, but almost no one had ever actually seen one. Quite ironic that one of the most commonly collected tarantulas in the hobby is so uncommonly seen in their country of origin. I’d guess the typical Indian or Sri Lankan has never seen a Poke either for that matter.

So, we signed up for a night walk tour through the forest with Bobby Maxson, a naturalist and full time forest guide living in Arenal. Bobby said he had seen many “red leg” tarantulas in the area and though we would have a good chance of seeing one. Well, he was right. The “red legs” turned out to be Megaphobema mesomelas and we saw four of them during the course of a 2 hour walk. They seemed to be very opportunistic in the selection of their living quarters. We observed them living in earth burrows in the sides of earth embankments as well as within hollow tree stumps and deep crevasses formed from the roots of the giant forest trees.

Here’s a pic of a M. mesomelas hanging out in front of her earth burrow.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Windycity

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
117
Here’s a pic of another one way in the back of a deep valley formed from the buttress roots of a Strangler Fig tree.
 

Attachments

Windycity

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
117
And here’s a final pic of the same M. mesomelas, having been coaxed from her lair with a bit a long grass vibrato on her doorstep. She was truly a beautiful T – vibrant colors and quite large – just a bit smaller than my outstreached fingers which would put her at about 7+ inches. By the way, I told Bobby that he ought to check out this forum occasionally as I’m sure all of us would be very interested in seeing some posts and pictures from the front line.

One last note. The M. mesomelas are quite common in this area if you care to look for them and know where to look. As noted previously, we found what appeared to be 4 large females during a 2 hour walk down the forest trails. The local guys there could not believe what I told them an adult mesomelas would cost back in the US, that is, if you could find an adult for sale in the first place.

Go to Part 3
 

Attachments

Last edited:

DR zuum

ArachnoAntigen
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 12, 2003
Messages
469
Very nice,great pics,thanks for shraing your experience
there. I wouldnt mind taking a trip there myself with wife and kids.lol
 

Crotalus

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 14, 2002
Messages
2,433
Thats it - I must have a bunch of these!
Beautiful pix and spider!

/Lelle
 

TheWidowsPeak

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 19, 2003
Messages
64
they should replace the picture on ricks site with that last one. way better specimen. the one on ricks site looks kinda dull
 
Top