| Mexico Guide |
| Flora & Fauna of Mexico |
| Nature Overview |
| Flora |
| Banana |
| Bougainvillea |
| Cashews |
| Cirian |
| Coconut |
| Habilla |
| Mangos |
| Papaya |
| Tamarindo |
| A Tropical Garden |
| Fauna |
| Birds |
| Insects |
| Mammals |
| Reptiles |
| Sea Life |
Books on Nature in Mexico |
Insects
In Mexico, there are spiders in all shapes and sizes.
This particular spider (left) set up camp in our tropical garden on the Pacific coast of Mexico.... he measured more than 3 inches across his leg-span and his web covered an area of about 3 feet square.
The Madre de Alacrán, or Tailess Whip Scorpion (right), is found often in many of the coastal areas of Mexico. They look a bit scary and certainly not very pretty, but please don't kill them! They feast on scorpions and are good allies! They can grow to a very large size, with their antennae and long, daddy-long-leg-type feet spanning a couple of feet or more.
A nice, hairy, black Tarantula (left) wanders through our garden every once in while... Black tartantula's are common here and though they look frightening, they are not aggressive and what they want to do more than anything when they encounter you is get far out of your way! No need getting stepped on!
Our family home is guarded by two beautiful and colorful Mexican Red-Knee Tarantulas (right) that are spectacular. Recently I found one of them climbing up the front of my shirt... needless to say I was very surprised and when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, I flicked the tarantula off me onto a nearby table before I even realized what it was. I was concerned at first that I might have hurt the thing as it flew through the air a couple of feet before landing on the table, but within a few seconds it quite calmly sauntered away towards the wall, which it promptly scaled, getting itself conveniently out of the way of the claws of our cat who was lurking nearby. I had read that tarantulas, when they're surprised or feel threatened, will throw out irritating hairs from their backs - that is their defense mechanism and a much more common one than getting "bitten" by one of these creatures. Well, that is exactly what happened in this case - within a couple of hours I had spots on my forearms where I guess the hairs hit me as the tarantula flew off of me toward the table, and for a short while I had a bit of an itchy rash - a very minor irritation not even as bothersome as a mosquito bite!
This beautiful irridescent butterfly photographed in the Huasteca area of San Luis Potosi.
