Guanacaste’s own tarantula, and a handsome one: near black with clean white stripes down the legs, which is where the name comes from. It lives in a burrow it digs itself, often with a neat silk collar around the entrance.
Where you’ll see it
The dry forest floor, pasture edges and occasionally a garden, especially after the first rains bring males out wandering for a mate. Most people meet one crossing a road or path at night.
What to know
Slow, shy and long lived, with females reaching twenty years or more. The venom is mild, and a bite is genuinely unusual. The defence you are more likely to meet is a spray of tiny barbed hairs kicked off the abdomen, which itch badly if they land on skin and are unpleasant in the eyes. Look, do not touch, and it will turn round and leave.
