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TARANTULA
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TARANTULA , strictly speaking, a large spider (Lycosa tarantula), which takes its name from the See also:town of See also:Taranto (See also:Tarentum) in See also:Apulia, near which it occurs and where it was formerly believed to be the cause of the malady known as "tarantism." This spider belongs to the See also:family Lycosidae, and has numerous See also:allies, equalling or surpassing it in See also:size, in various parts of the See also:world, the genus Lycosa being almost See also:cosmopolitan in See also:distribution. The tarantula, like all its allies, spins no See also:web as a snare but catches its See also:prey by activity and See also:speed of See also:foot. It lives on dry, well-drained ground, and digs a deep burrow lined with See also:silk to pre-vent the infall of loose particles of See also:soil. In the See also:winter it covers the orifice of this burrow with a layer of silk, and lies dormant underground until the return of See also:spring. It also uses the burrow as a safe See also:retreat during moulting and See also:guards its cocoon and See also:young in its depths. It lives for several years. The male is approximately the same size as the See also:female, but in neither See also:sex does the length of the See also:body surpass three-quarters of an See also:inch. Like all See also:spiders, the tarantula possesses See also:poison glands in its jaws, but there is not a particle of trustworthy See also:evidence that the secretion of these glands is more virulent than that of other spiders of the same size, and ,the See also:medieval belief that the bite of the spider gave rise to tarantism has See also:long been abandoned. According to traditional accounts the first symptom of this disorder was usually a See also:state of depression and lethargy. From this the sufferer could only be roused by See also:music, which excited an overpowering See also:desire to See also:dance until the performer See also:fell to the ground bathed in profuse See also:perspiration, when the cure, at all events for the See also:time, was supposed to be effected. This See also:mania attacked both men and See also:women, young and old alike, women being more susceptible than men. It was also considered to be highly infectious and to spread rapidly from See also:person to person until whole areas were affected. The name tarantella, in use at the See also:present time, applies both to a dance still in See also:vogue in See also:Southern See also:Italy and also to musical pieces resembling in their stimulating See also:measures those that were necessary to rouse to activity the sufferer from tarantism in the See also:middle ages. In See also:recent times the See also:term tarantula has been applied indiscriminately to many different kinds of large spiders in no way related to Lycosa tarantula; and to at least one Arachnid belonging to a distinct See also:order. In most parts of See also:America, for example, where See also:English is spoken, See also:species of Aviculariidae, or " See also:Bird-eating " spiders of various genera, areinvariably called tarantulas. These spiders are very much larger and more venomous than the largest of the Lycosidae, and in the Southern states of See also:North America the species of wasps that destroy them have been called tarantula See also:hawks. In See also:Queensland one of the largest See also:local spiders, known as Holconia immanis, a member of the family Clubionidae, bears the name tarantula; and in See also:Egypt it was a See also:common practice of the See also:British soldiers to put together scorpions and tarantulas, the latter in this instance being specimens of the large and formidable See also:desert-haunting Arachnid, Galeodes lucasii, a member of the order Solifugae. Similarly in See also:South See also:Africa species of the genus Soipuga, another member of the Solifugae, were employed for the same purpose under the name tarantula. Finally the name Tarantula, in a scientific and systematic sense, was first given by See also:Fabricius to a Ceylonese species of amblypygous See also:Pedipalpi, still sometimes quoted as Phrynus lunatus. (R. I. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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