Acknowledgement and source: www.jonwallis.btinternet.co.uk/tarantula/glossary.html



Abdomen
The second or posterior of the two major body divisions - sometimes called the opisthosoma. It is connected to the end of the cephalothorax by the pedicel
Anterior
Towards the front
Anterior Lateral Eyes
the outer pair of the frontal row of eyes
Anterior Median Eyes
the inner pair of the frontal row of eyes. Note: six-eyed spiders lack this pair.
Arboreal
Tree dwelling
Autotomize
The tarantula's ability to lose a leg at a breakaway point when it is either grabbed or the leg is damaged. Also called autotomy or autospasy.
Bombardment
An act of self defence exhibited by New World tarantulas, in which they fling urticating hairs into the air by rapidly rubbing their abdomen with a back leg.
Book lungs
Respiratory organs situated on the ventral surface of the abdomen, with lung slits opening to the outside. Primitive gill like lungs, called book lungs because the many folds resemble the pages in a book. Note: Most spiders have only one pair plus a trachea, but tarantulas (Theraphosids) have 2 pairs and no trachea.
Boss
A well-developed shiny prominence at the base of each chelicera - not always present.
Captive Bred
A tarantula that comes from a breeder rather than having been taken from the wild
Carapace
The structure covering the upper surface of the cephalothorax.
Chelicerae
The jaws (singular is chelicera), which are thickened and robust at the base, narrowing towards the end, with a fang articulating at the tip. The fangs, when not extended, fit into grooves on the underside of the chelicerae.
Cephalothorax
Literally "head and thorax". The portion of the body to which the legs, pedipalps, chelicerae and abdomen are connected.
Chitin
A nitrogenous polysaccharide found in the exoskeleton of the tarantula.
CITES.
The "Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species". An international treaty that governs the trade, import and export of endangered plants and animals. Some popular tarantulas come under Appendix II and can only be legally obtained from captive bred sources
Classification
Tarantulas are classified in the Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Arthropoda, Sub Phylum: Chelicerata, Class: Arachnida, Order: Araneae, Sub Order: Mygalomorphae, Family: Theraphosidae.
Claws
Tarantulas are classified in the Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Arthropoda, Sub Phylum: Chelicerata, Class: Arachnida, Order: Araneae, Sub Order: Mygalomorphae, Family: Theraphosidae.Terminal appendages on the legs and pedipalps. Tarantulas only have two claws per leg.
Claw Tufts
A dense tuft of hairs at the tip of the tarsus. Not present in all species.
Clypeus
The area between the anterior row of eyes and the front edge of the carapace.
Common Name
The non-Latin name given to a species. (e.g. Mexican Red Rump is the common name for Brachypelma vagans). Common names make it easier for the beginner to identify a spider, but pet stores often give their spiders variations of or just the wrong common name. Common names also vary between the USA, Europe and the UK.
Coxa
The joint of the legs and pedipalps closest to the cephalothorax.
Cuticle
The hardened layer that covers the body of a spider. It provides a combinatin of rigidity and flexibility. It serves a protective function (like armour) and since it is relatively impermeable to water, helps prevent dessication (loss of water). It also provides a rigid base for the attachment of muscles. The cuticle remains soft at the joints to permit movement.
Cymbium
The part of the mature male's pedipalp that is used to pick up sperm and transfer it to the female.
Dimorphic
Two different forms of spider in the same species. Many species of tarantula exhibit gender dimorphism - i.e., marked differences between male and female (e.g., size, colour and/or patterning).
Distal
Terminal - at the end of something, such as a leg or pedipalp.
Dorsal
The upper surface or top.
Ecdysis
The process by which the spider sheds its exoskeleton, allowing for growth and the regeneration of lost or damaged limbs. Synonymous with moult (US: molt).
Egg-Sac
A silk bundle that contains the spider's eggs.
Embolus
A stiff spur found on the cymbium of a mature male's pedipalp.
Epigastric furrow
The furrow or fold across the vental surface of the abdomen that usually joins the lungs slits. It is the opening to the spermatheca in the female
Epigyne
The sclerotised pate, in front of the epigastric furrow, forming part of the adult female's reproductive organs.
Exoskeleton
The generally hard outer covering that provides support and protection to the tarantula
Exuviae
The proper term for the moulted exoskeleton
Eyes
Spiders have simple eyes (i.e., one lens per eye, as compared with the compound eyes of insects, which have multile lenses. Humans have simple eyes too). Tarantulas have eight eyes (i.e., four pairs), although a few species have only six. Generally the eyes are arranged in two distinct rows - an anterior row and a posterior row. The inner pair of eyes in each row are termed median and the outer pair are termed lateral. Thus, the four pairs are the anterior median eyes (AME), anterior lateral eyes (ALE), posterior median eyes (PME) and posterior lateral eyes (PLE).
Fang
The tooth-like structure at the end of a chelicera. Normally fittng into a groove or furrow on the base of the chelicera, the fang articulates at the point of connection. The fang is used to pierce the skin of prey. It contains a duct, through which poison can be injected in order the subdue or kill the prey. The poison originates in a gland inside the cephalothorax.
Fang furrow
A groove in which a fang lies when not being used. The fang furrow is often fringed with numerous small promarginal and retromarginal teeth.
Femur
The third leg/pedipalp segment from the body.
Folium
The pattern that sometimes covers the whole abdomen.
Fovea
An obvious depression or furrow in the middle of the carapace. It is not visible in all species. It forms a point for the attachment of muscles internally. Some species have a projection ("horn") instead of a depression.
Gut Loading
The practice of ensuring that prey animals are well fed and hydrated prior to being fed to the tarantula.
Haemolymph
A thick blue-tinged fluid that bathes the tarantula's organs (tarantula blood). The blue colour is because it contains a copper complex that has a strong affinity for oxygen.
Hair
A delicate unmodified setal structure arising directly from the cuticle. See also bristle, spine and trichobothrium.
Head
The anterior region of the cephalothorax, which bears the eyes
Heterogeneous eyes
Eyes that differ in size, shape or colour
Homogenoeous eyes
Eyes that are all the same (approximately)
Instar
The period between molts. Each instar is assigned a number with 1st instar beginning after the first molt after the spider hatches.
Latin Name
The scientific name given to a species so that it is recognizable in all languages. (e.g. Poecilotheria regalis is the Latin name for the Indian Ornamental). The first word, capitalized, is the genus and the second, not capitalized, is the species. The genus of the latin name can change as a species is better studied and (re)classified. Pet stores will often not know the Latin name of a spider and tend to use common names with varying degrees of accuracy. Also known as the scientific name or the systematic name.
Labium
The structure that covers the anterior ventral part of the cephalothorax. It is one of the mouthparts, located between the two maxillae.
Lateral
Towards the sides
Leg
The organ of support and locomotion. It is divided into seven segments, which are (listed outwards from the body) the coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, metatarsus and tarsus. The tarsus bears claws. The legs are numbered I-IV from the front to the rear of the body.
Lung slits
The slits on the ventral side of the abdomen that are the openings to the book lungs. Tarantulas have four lung slits
Mating Spurs
Hooks found on the back of the tibia on the first pair of legs on a mature male. They are used to secure the female's fangs during mating. Also called tibial spurs
Maxillae (sing. maxilla)
The expanded basal segments of the pedipalps..
Median
Towards the middle.
Median Eyes
The pairs of eyes in the middle of the head.
Median Ocular Area
The area included by the Median Eyes.
Metatarsus
The second outermost segment of the legs - not present in the pedipalps.
Moult
The general name for the process by which the spider sheds its exoskeleton, allowing for growth and the regeneration of lost or damaged limbs. Properly called ecdysis.
New World
A tarantula that originates in the Western Hemisphere (e.g., Central and Latin America) .
Nocturnal
Active during the night.
Ootheca
The scientific name for the egg-sac.
Opisthosoma
An alternative term for the abdomen
Old World
A tarantula that originates in the Eastern Hemisphere (e.g., Africa and India).
Palpal Bulbs
Found at the tip of the pedipalps on a mature male, papal bulbs are used to hold and transfer the sperm to the female.
Palps
An abbreviated name for the pedipalps
Patella
The fourth outermost leg/pedipalp segment.
Pedicel
The waist-like tube that forms the point of attachment between the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
Pedipalps
Leg-like organs used for feeding and prey manipulation (and for mating purposes in males). They differ from legs in only having six segments (they lack the metatarsus). The basal segments of the pedipalps are modified to form the maxillae.
Pinheads
An american terms for recently hatched crickets that are used to feed spiderlings.
Pooter
A device use to help transfer small prey, such as pinheads or fruit flies to a spiderling's enclosure. The most common style consists of two tubes. One tube has a fine mesh over it and is wedged into the second tube. To use it you simply suck up the prey, which is stopped by the mesh. It's then just a matter of "pooting" the prey into the spiderling's enclosure.
Postembryo
A spider is postembryo from the time it hatches until it's first molt.
Postultimate Moult
Any molt after the ultimate molt. This is only seen with the females as male tarantulas will die after their ultimate molt.
Posterior
Towards the rear.
Posterior Lateral Eyes
The outer pair of rear-most eyes.
Posterior Median Eyes
The inner pair of rear-most eyes.
Prey
Any insect or animal intended to be your spider's next meal.
Procurved Eyes
Ocular arrangment in which the lateral pair of eyes in each row are more anterior than the median pair.
Promarginal teeth
The teeth on the forward facing edge of the fang furrow.
Prosoma
Another name for the cephalothorax.
Psuedosegments
Secondary segments, forming sub-divisions of the main segments.
Radial Furrows
Three pairs of furrows, grooves or pigmented lines radiating from the fovea to the edges of the carapace.
Rastellum
A row of teeth found on the chelicerae that some tarantulas. Used for burrowing.
Recurved Eyes
Ocular arrangment in which the lateral pair of eyes in each row are more posterior than the median pair. In very recurved eyes, there may appear to be three rows of eyes.
Retromarginal Teeth
The teeth on the rear-ward facing edge of the fang furrow.
Scientific Name
An alternative term for the Latin Name.
Sclerotised/Sclerotisation
Hardening of the cuticle. Heavily sclerotised areas are often shiny in appearance and may be more heavily pigmented.
Scopulae
Dense tufts of extremely fine hairs on the ventral surface (underside) of the tarsus and metatarus of tarantulas. The scopulae are what enable tarantulas to walk up smooth vertical surfaces (e.g., the glass sides of their tanks in captivity).
Sensilla
Also called slit sense organs, these are distributed over the entire body surface and most numerous on the legs. The sensilla are stress (strain) sense organs and have a number of functions, including acting as proprioreeptive mecahnoreceptors - reacting to the spider's own movements, airborne sound and gravity.
Setal (Structures)
A generic term for all the spine like structures (bristles, hairs, spines and trichobothria) that arise from the cuticle.
Silk
Fine filaments of a proteinaceous material produced by the spider's spinnerets and used to create egg-sacs, line burrows and help capture prey
Spermatheca
A special sac in the female's abdomen, in which sperm from the male is stored. If no eggs are produced, the female will shed the spermatheca with the next molt and must mate again if she is to produce eggs.
Spermatophore
A bundle used to transfer sperm by some spiders
Sperm Web
A special web produced by a mature male spider. The spider will deposit a drop of sperm onto the web, then draw the sperm into the papal bulbs, ready for introduction into a female tarantula.
Spiderling
A baby spider.
Spine
The most robust setal structure. Thicker and usually longer than a bristle.
Spinnerets
The structures at the posterior end of the abdomen through which silk is extruded. Tarantulas have two pairs, a large posterior pair and a small anterior pair.
Sternum
The posterior (and larger) of the two major structures that cover the ventral side of the cephalothorax (the other, smaller, structure is the labium).
Stridulation
The process of producing sound by the rubbing together of certain modified surfaces of the chelicerae and maxillae (and sometimes at the base of the pedipalps and first pair of legs). Only some tarantulas (e.g., Theraphosa blondi and Citarischuis crawshayi) possess stridulating structures.
Sucking Stomach
The spider's specially developed stomach that sucks the predigested fluid from the prey.
Tarsus
The most distal (outermost) segment of the legs and pedipalps. In tarantulas the tarsus bears two claws.
Taxonomy
The process of naming and identifying an organism.
Terrestrial
Refers to tarantulas that live on the ground (also known as ground-dwellers)
Thoracic Region
The posterior of the two regions of the carapace.
Threat Stance or Posture
A position assumed by a tarantula that feels threatened. It consists of raising of the front two legs, extending the fangs and rearing back ready to strike. It may also be accompanied by stridulation.
Tibia
The fifth outermost leg/pedipalp segment.
Tibial Spurs
See Mating Spurs
Trichobothrium
Extremely delicate setal structures (thinner than a hair). They are extremely sensitive and are used in the detection of air currents and low frequency air vibrations (sound).
Trochanter
The second outermost leg/pedipalp segment.
Tubercle
A small rounded projection or protuberance of the cuticle.
Ultimate Moult
The molt that brings the spider to sexual maturity.
Urticating Hairs
Barbed hairs found on the New World tarantulas. Used as a first line of defense (bombardment), they can be extremely irritating, especially to the eyes and mucous membranes.
Venom
A poisonous liquid injected through the tarantula's fangs that serves to paralyze the prey and begin tehprocess of external digestion.
Ventral
The lower or under surface.

Good work SpoQ!

TH

Great work! but now my head hurts....

Phew,

thanks for doing this, this type of list really helped me understand a lot when I started, hopefully many noobs will benefit!

HS