tarantula (tarantula)

[Also tarentula; = F. tarentule = Sp. tarantula = Pg. tarantula, Nest of a Tarantula ( Lycosa nidifex). Tarantula ( Lycosa pike i ), male. Tarantula ( Lycosa pike i ), female. in the genus Lycosa. It rested on such species as T. apuliæ of southern Europe, now known as Lycosa tarantula. See def. 1.-4†. [ cap.] [NL.] A genus of spider-like scorpions. As used by early writers, after Fabric i us, it included the genera Phrynus and Thelyphonus, now constituting the families Phrynidæ and Thelyphonidæ, and the order Phrynida or Pedipalpi. There is great po ibility of confounding this genus [ Tarantula ] with the famous Tarentula [of the genus Ly cos a ]. among the spiders. J. O. West wood (ed. Cuvier, 1849, p. 465). Tarantula dance. Same as tarantella , 1. tarantula-killer (ta-ran'tū-la-kiler), n. A large wasp, as Pompilus for mos us , which in southwestern parts of the United States kills the tarantula ( Mygale ) of that region. The wasp makes a subterraneous nest or burrow, provisioning it with the spider, which is paralyzed, but not killed, by stinging; an egg is deposited, and the larva which emerges subsists on the body of the spider until it is fully grown.