Typhochlaena seladonia

🔤 Taxonomy

Typhochlaena seladonia (C. L. Koch, 1841) is the accepted name. Older literature and trade records may use Iridopelma seladonium or Iridopelma seladonia. The current combination was restored in a 2012 revision, which also clarified the genus and its specialized arboreal ecology.

English common names used in the hobby:

• Brazilian jewel tarantula
• Brazilian jewel

📌 Description

This is a small Brazilian arboreal tarantula, usually about 4-6 cm diagonal legspan, with iridescent green, blue, red, and gold coloration. Its defining behaviour is more important than its colours: it builds a silk-lined chamber and a camouflaged trapdoor in bark rather than an exposed arboreal web tube.

Females are often estimated to live 10-12 years and males much less, but long-term species-specific longevity data are limited. The spider is delicate, fast, expensive, legally sensitive, and easy to lose through a tiny gap. It belongs with an advanced keeper already competent with small arboreal tarantulas.

☠️ Venom

The venom is not considered medically significant on present evidence, but published clinical data are scarce. A bite can still cause pain, swelling, puncture injury, and an unpredictable allergic response. The realistic day-to-day risk is a rapid escape during feeding or rehousing.

Do not handle this species. Guide it with a catch cup, transfer tube, and soft brush inside a larger contained workspace. Avoid contact with shed skins and webbing, as aviculariine urticating hairs can irritate skin and eyes even if the spider rarely presents them defensively. Seek medical care after severe or systemic symptoms or eye exposure; do not apply a tourniquet.

🌍 Distribution

World Spider Catalog records T. seladonia from Brazil. Primary revision and natural-history work associates it with northeastern Atlantic Forest, especially Bahia and Sergipe, where spiders make their trapdoors in tree bark. This is a restricted and fragmented forest context, not “all tropical Brazil.”

Captive care should reproduce the useful microhabitat: textured vertical bark, a tight crevice, shade, gentle moisture at the enclosure base, and moving air. Saturating the whole container does not reproduce a bark chamber and can kill a small spider through stale conditions.

🌡 Climate across the native range

Monthly climate normals from reviewed GBIF occurrence locations:

Weather data by WorldClim v2.1 · Monthly normals queried by Herpeton Academy from raster values; relative humidity is derived from vapor pressure and mean temperature.

Location references use GBIF.org occurrence data where available; original occurrence records retain their source dataset licenses.

⚖️ Legal status

The official CITES Appendices and current EU wildlife-trade annexes were checked on 2026-08-05; Typhochlaena seladonia was not found in them. It is not covered by the Bern Convention. However, Brazil’s official national threatened-fauna list published in June 2026 classifies the species as Endangered, and Brazilian rules strictly control collection, possession, breeding, transport, and export of native wildlife.

CITES non-listing does not resolve whether founder stock left Brazil lawfully. Prospective buyers should demand a dated invoice, full breeder and seller identity, breeding-generation or parentage information where available, previous transfer documents, and any import records required in their country. Do not buy an anonymous specimen at an expo or rely on “captive bred” without a traceable chain. Obtain jurisdiction-specific legal advice if the records are incomplete.

🤌 Husbandry

Keep the spider alone in an escape-proof vertically oriented enclosure. An adult can use about 15 x 15 x 25 cm; spiderlings need much smaller containers where prey and hydration can be monitored. Every air hole and door seam must be narrower than the carapace, and the door should not cut through the likely retreat site.

Install a curved cork slab or section of cork tube vertically, leaving several narrow fissures between bark and wall. Add loose cork flakes, lichen-like artificial cover, or leaf fragments that the spider can incorporate into its trapdoor. A 2-4 cm soil layer at the bottom buffers moisture, but this is not a terrestrial burrowing setup.

Quarantine for at least 8 weeks away from other arachnids with separate tools. Record source documents, photographs, feeding, web construction, molts, and refusals. Observe for mites, phorid flies, mold, poor grip, and injury without tearing open the trapdoor. A closed door is normal and must not be lifted to check the animal.

Plan maintenance around the retreat. Place the enclosure in a larger tub, close room doors and vents, prepare a catch vial, then work slowly. Spot-clean with long fine tongs while the trapdoor is closed. If a rehouse is unavoidable, move the whole bark section into the new enclosure when possible.

💡 Lighting

No UVB or basking lamp is required. Provide 10-12 hours of soft ambient light and a genuinely dark night. Position the enclosure away from direct sun and hot display lamps, which can dry a tiny bark retreat rapidly.

A low-output plant LED may be used outside the enclosure if temperature is measured on the bark. Visibility is not a reason to illuminate the trapdoor continuously.

🌡 Heating and temperature

Maintain about 21-26°C by day with access to a 20-22°C cooler area and a night range around 19-22°C. Stable room temperature is safer than focused heat. The upper end should never be combined with stagnant saturated air.

If heat is needed, warm the room or one enclosure side through a thermostat. Do not place a mat below the base and do not aim a bulb at the bark. Small arboreal containers overheat quickly, so use a digital probe and check after any seasonal room change.

💧 Humidity and water

Keep the base layer slightly moist, then allow its surface to begin drying before adding more water. Practical readings often fall around 60-75%, rising locally after watering, but a fixed number cannot describe conditions inside the trapdoor. Cross-ventilation is essential.

Offer a tiny shallow dish to larger juveniles and adults, mounted securely or placed at the base. Droplets on webbing or one wall can support very small spiderlings, but they should not replace careful substrate hydration. Avoid spraying directly into the door. Constant condensation, mold on cork, or a musty smell means too much water or too little airflow.

🌿 Enclosure and decoration

The main furnishing is usable bark, not ornamental foliage. Offer different fissure widths and keep the chosen section stable. Do not peel away silk to make the spider visible. Lightweight leaves and cork fragments are safe building material; heavy rocks, sticky decor, sharp wire, and mesh that catches claws are not.

Open the door only as far as needed. A front-opening enclosure should have its retreat to one side, so the spider does not sit directly at the escape route. Inspect hinges, cable ports, and ventilation after every maintenance session.

🪳 Feeding

Spiderlings can take flightless fruit flies, tiny roach nymphs, pinhead crickets, or freshly killed prey pieces twice a week. Juveniles usually take a small feeder every 5-7 days. Adults commonly need one suitable roach or cricket every 7-14 days, adjusted to abdomen size.

Place prey near, not inside, the trapdoor and watch from a distance. Remove untaken insects within 24 hours; a cricket can damage a molting spider inside its chamber. Stop feeding after refusals or when the door remains sealed. Resume only after the new fangs are dark—several days after a juvenile molt and often about a week for an adult. Do not dust prey with supplements.

🩺 Common problems

• Escape follows oversized vents, a door opened beside the retreat, or maintenance without a catch container.
• Dehydration presents as a reduced, wrinkled abdomen and poor coordination; provide water and correct the moisture gradient without flooding.
• Mold, mites, and bad odour indicate excess organic waste, poor airflow, or constant wetting.
• Failure to build a trapdoor usually reflects unsuitable bark or crevices, repeated disturbance, or an enclosure that is too open.
• A sealed retreat and prolonged fast can be normal premolt behaviour. Never pry it open.
• A fall, hemolymph leak, poor grip, trapped molt, or persistent uncoordinated movement needs specialist veterinary or experienced arachnid advice.

Never expose this species to pesticides, household aerosols, essential oils, or flea treatments.

📌 Conclusion

Typhochlaena seladonia is not a jewel to acquire first and research later. A suitable keeper must provide bark architecture, precise small-scale moisture and ventilation, escape-controlled maintenance, and unusually strong proof of legal origin before the spider arrives.

📚 Sources and further reading

• World Spider Catalog entry for Typhochlaena seladonia — taxonomy and distribution, accessed 2026-08-05
• GBIF species entry for Typhochlaena seladonia
• Bertani 2012: revision of Typhochlaena, Pachistopelma and Iridopelma
• Andre & Hüsser: arboreal trapdoor ecology in Typhochlaena
• Tarantula Collective care sheet — specialist husbandry compared conservatively with primary natural history
• Brazil Portaria MMA 1,704/2026 and IBAMA fauna trade guidance
• CITES Appendices and EU wildlife-trade regulation — checked 2026-08-05