Goliath birdeater: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Goliath birdeater lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Theraphosa blondi
Group	Spiders, scorpions & other arachnids
Found in	1 country
Continents	South America
Mass	6.2 oz (≈0.18 kg)
Class	Arachnid
Order	Araneida
Family	Theraphosidae

Where does the Goliath birdeater live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Goliath birdeater in 1 country or territory across South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Melgaço.

French Guiana

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a Goliath birdeater?

Wikidata records the following for the Goliath birdeater: mass 6.2 oz (≈0.18 kg).

What kind of animal is the Goliath birdeater?

The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is an arachnid in the order Araneida and the family Theraphosidae, genus Theraphosa. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Goliath birdeater

The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is a large spider that belongs to the tarantula family Theraphosidae. Found in northern South America, it is the largest spider in the world by mass (175 g (6.2 oz)) and body length (up to 13 cm (5.1 in)), and second to the giant huntsman spider by leg span. It is also considerably longer than the largest known prehistoric spider, Mongolarachne, that had a body length of 2.46 centimeters (0.97 in). It is also called the Goliath tarantula or Goliath bird-eating spider; the practice of calling theraphosids "bird-eating" derives from an early 18th-century copper engraving by Maria Sibylla Merian that shows one eating a hummingbird. Despite the spider's name, it rarely preys on birds.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Goliath birdeater (revision 1380386339), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q617000 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).