New records and defensive behaviour of a rarely seen tarantula, Trichopelma coenobita (Simon, 1889) on Trinidad, West Indies

Abstract

Trichopelma coenobita was originally described as Stothis coenobita Simon 1889, based on a female specimen from Venezuela. Decades later, a male T. coenobita was described for the first time, thanks to a new observation of a male-female pair on Trinidad in February 1964. In this report, we present two additional observations of this tarantula species on Trinidad, expanding its known geographic distribution.