New tarantula species: YouTuber finds new-to-science tarantula that lives in bamboo stems

A species of tarantula seems to live exclusively inside hollow bamboo stems, which no other tarantula is known to do

By Jake Buehler

Tarantulas make their homes everywhere from dusty desert burrows to a rainforest canopy. Now, researchers have discovered a tarantula new to science that dwells entirely within the hollow stems of bamboo, a first for this group of colossal, woolly spiders.

JoCho Sippawat – a wildlife YouTuber from Thailand – first encountered the spiders while visiting a jungle in Tak province, in the northwest of the country, noticing a brown tarantula with narrow, light bands on the legs dropping from a hollow bamboo stem …