Taxonomy

Theraphosa blondi, Goliath Tarantula

Domain: Eukarya- This domain includes all nucleated organisms many of which are multicellular like T. blondi (Sandland, 2008).  

Kingdom: Animalia- This kingdom includes organisms that are multi-cellular and lack cell walls in their cells (Sandland, 2008).

Phylum: Arthropoda- This phylum includes organisms that have exoskeletons composed of chitin.  These exoskeletons act as attachments for T. blondi's musculature.  The exoskeleton of T. blondi does not grow with the organism, so the undersized exoskeleton must be shed via molting(Sandland, 2008).

Subphylum: Chelicerata- T. blondi, like all members of this subphylum, have two body segments (cephalothorax and abdomen) and six pairs of appendeges- four pairs of legs, one pair of pedipalps, and one pair of chelicera, which usually houses the fangs (Sandland, 2008).

Class: Arachnida-  Arachnids are the only chelicerids to live in a terrestrial enviroment (Tree of Life Web Project, 2006).

Order: Araneae- Organisms of this order do mot have multi-segmented abdomens or modified mandibles, instead they have evolved elongated walking legs to aid in web makind and mobility (Tree of Life Web Project, 2006).

Suborder: Mygalomorphae- T. blondi does not make webs, but compensated by occupying burrows and evolving fine hairs to detect movement and aid in defense. See Self Defense (Tree of Life Web Project, 2006).

Family: Theraphosidae- Tarantulas in this family generally line their burrow dwellings with silk to sense prey items that walk near the entrance (Shear, 1986).

Genus: Theraphosa

Species: Theraphosa blondi

Phylogenetic Tree (Tree of Life Web Project, 2006).