A team of researchers of the Puducherry-based Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation (IBF) have sighted Peacock Parachute Spider-a critically endangered species of tarantula for the first time beyond its known habitat in the Eastern Ghats.
- It was spotted by in the Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu.
- Researchers sighted Gooty Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) resting in a cave.
- The spider was sighted way back in 1899 by Reginald Innes Pocock on the basis of a single female specimen in Gooty. About 102 years later this species has been recorded at degraded forest between Nandyal and Giddalur in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh.
- IUCN says on its website that it could not be said to occur naturally in Gooty, since it could have come from the Eastern Ghats at least 100 km away.
- According to S. Vimalraj, a wildlife researcher, the species had so far not been sighted in any other part of India or Sri Lanka except its known habitat in Andhra Pradesh.
About Peacock Parachute Spider
- It belongs to the genus Poecilotheria and is commonly known as the Peacock Parachute Spider or Gooty Tarantula.
- The species, known to be endemic to India, was found at different locations in the reserve forests.
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorised it as Critically Endangered.
- Tarantulas are biological pest controllers and there is a huge demand for them by collectors in the pet trade.
