Short clips filmed during the UGC-funded survey of Kerala's theraphosid spiders, 2014. Arachnology Laboratory, Deva Matha College, Kuravilangad.
Coaxing out a blue tarantula
A researcher gently draws Haploclastus out of its silk-lined burrow in a laterite bank with blunt forceps, for photographing and measurement. Kollam district.
Dinner is a grasshopper
Haploclastus devamatha in the lab, approaching live prey. Tarantulas hunt by touch and vibration rather than sight.
A burrow dressed in leaves
The entrance of a Haploclastus burrow at Agasthyamala, rimmed with dry leaves stitched in silk. The collar disguises the hole and carries vibrations from passing insects.
Searching a forest bank
Field survey at Agasthyamala, Kottoor, 2014. Most records begin like this: a slow look along an earth bank for silk at a hole's edge.
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