In 2018 we filmed tarantulas in Malaysia and Thailand, with a stopover in Hong Kong on the way. The episodes below take in purple femur tarantulas in the Malaysian highlands, giant tree tarantulas on an island off the coast, a trapdoor spider that is not a tarantula, a city tarantula in Hong Kong and ground-dwelling tarantulas in north-western Thailand. Everything here is field footage.
Species and genera in the series
- Coremiocnemis hoggi, the Malaysian purple femur tarantula, and Psednocnemis (including P. brachyramosa and P. jeremyhuffi), Peninsular Malaysia
- Omothymus and Chilobrachys on an island off Malaysia
- Liphistius, a trapdoor spider in the family Liphistiidae, Malaysia
- Phlogiellus bogadeki, Hong Kong
- Melopoeus minax (formerly Haplopelma minax) and Chilobrachys, north-western Thailand
Malaysia
Purple femur tarantula in the highlands
The fourth episode finds the Malaysian purple femur tarantula, Coremiocnemis hoggi, in the highlands of Peninsular Malaysia, where it lives in deep burrows. Burrow temperatures of about 17 to 21 °C are given in the episode. A short look at Psednocnemis jeremyhuffi, which lives nearby, closes it. Both names are accepted by the World Spider Catalog, which lists both from Peninsular Malaysia.
A trapdoor spider that is not a tarantula
Liphistius belongs to the family Liphistiidae, not to the tarantulas. Burrows in earthen banks are its home. A thin, circular door hinged at the top closes each one, camouflaged with earth and moss, and several strands of silk radiate from the door. By day the spider stays deep in the burrow. At night it waits just behind the door and reacts when prey touches one of the strands. Episode five shows one of these burrows and its owner. Which trapdoor spiders are tarantulas and which are not, I explain in Trapdoor Spiders and Trapdoor Tarantulas.
The search for Psednocnemis brachyramosa
Field footage from Malaysia: the search for Psednocnemis brachyramosa and the story of its discovery. West and Nunn described the species in 2010, and the World Spider Catalog lists it from Peninsular Malaysia.
Omothymus and Chilobrachys on an island
On a small island off the Malaysian coast we searched for Omothymus, a genus of giant tree-dwelling tarantulas, together with friends from France. Living on the same island is a ground-dwelling Chilobrachys, a genus in the subfamily Selenocosmiinae. Ecology and taxonomy of Omothymus are not well defined, the episode points out. Of the four accepted species, Omothymus schioedtei (Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia) and Omothymus violaceopes (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) have a Malaysian range in the World Spider Catalog. Its own page is Omothymus schioedtei, the Malaysian earth tiger.
A short clip of an Omothymus tarantula from an island off Malaysia.
“Earth Tiger” is the wrong name for a tree-dwelling tarantula (0:15 in our short). More on the Malaysian earth tiger, Omothymus.
Hong Kong
Field footage from Hong Kong: the first stop of the trip, a short vlog about finding Phlogiellus bogadeki in the city. Nunn, West and von Wirth described the species in 2016, and the World Spider Catalog accepts it and lists it from China.
Thailand
From Bangkok we travelled to north-western Thailand to look for Chilobrachys and Haplopelma species. Featured in the film is a ground-dwelling tarantula the title calls Haplopelma minax. Since 2026 the World Spider Catalog has placed it in Melopoeus, as Melopoeus minax Thorell, 1897, moved there by Smith, Daniel and Vignaud in 2026. Its range is Myanmar and Thailand. Some of the footage was shared by Phil Samadi of World of Spiders.
A short clip of Ornithoctonus aureotibialis, an earth tiger tarantula with a golden fringe, filmed in Thailand.
Another Thai tarantula has its own page: the cobalt blue tarantula, Melopoeus lividus, which the World Spider Catalog lists from Myanmar and Thailand.
More from the region
Sarawak, on Borneo, has its own account: Birupes simoroxigorum, the blue-legged tarantula from Sarawak. Galleries for the subfamilies behind these genera are Ornithoctoninae and Selenocosmiinae, and the whole family is covered in the Theraphosidae overview.
Sources
- World Spider Catalog (2026). Species pages for Coremiocnemis hoggi, Psednocnemis brachyramosa, P. jeremyhuffi, Omothymus schioedtei, O. violaceopes, Phlogiellus bogadeki, Melopoeus minax and M. lividus. wsc.nmbe.ch, accessed 1 October 2026.
- Smith, A. M., Daniel, B. A. & Vignaud, B. (2026). Nomenclatural notes on the Ornithoctoninae genera Cyriopagopus, Haplopelma and Melopoeus. Journal of the British Tarantula Society 40(3): 15-28.
- Murphy, F. & Murphy, J. (2000). An introduction to the spiders of South East Asia, with notes on all the genera. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
