Austria logs over 200 tarantula sightings since September, 175 confirmed by experts
Citizen scientists in Austria reported over 200 tarantula sightings since early September; experts confirmed 175, including unusual finds of both local species.
More than 200 tarantula sightings have been reported in Austria since the beginning of September, euronews.com reports. The records were submitted through the citizen science platform naturbeobachtung.at, and experts have confirmed 175 of them euronews.com
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Styria in southeastern Austria recorded the most sightings, 66. Lower Austria follows with 49 and Burgenland with 43. Sightings were also reported in Carinthia.
Unusual finds for researchers
Some of the recent records are of particular interest to researchers. A South Russian tarantula was found in Tulln in Lower Austria, an unusually far northwestern sighting. Carolina Trcka-Rojas of the Austrian Nature Conservation Association said there had previously been no reported sightings in the surrounding region.
The black-bellied tarantula was spotted at the end of August in Stossau in the lower Gail valley. It is the westernmost record of the species in Austria to date euronews.com
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Species, behaviour and bites
Two tarantula species are generally found in Austria: the South Russian tarantula and the black-bellied tarantula. Both belong to the wolf spider family. The South Russian tarantula was first recorded in Austria in the early 1920s, around Lake Neusiedl and Vienna, and the black-bellied tarantula was first documented in Styria in the 1970s.
Tarantulas are particularly active in autumn, when they look for sheltered places to spend the winter. In some cases they enter flats, houses or garages; in their natural habitat they use underground burrows and rock crevices.
The spiders can bite if they feel threatened, although this is rare. A bite can be painful and may cause redness and swelling, but for healthy people it is usually not dangerous euronews.com
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The trend is not limited to Austria. A 2025 study showed that tarantulas were also spreading in Czechia after decades of decline, with researchers seeing warmer and drier summers as a key factor.
