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Talk:Chinese bird spider

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How many species?

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The article refers to "several species of old-world tarantulas which are found in China and Vietnam" but, after all the synonyms, there seem to be only two. Is this right? Opus131 (talk) 04:52, 6 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The problem is that English names for spiders tend to be used in less reliable sources, so understanding which species are meant isn't always easy. The name of the subfamily Ornithoctoninae means "bird killer", so "bird spider" is sometimes used as part of the name for any of the species in this subfamily. So any Ornithoctoninae from China could be called a "Chinese bird spider", but only the two listed appear in what I regard as reliable sources. (A general issue with tarantula articles on the English Wikipedia is that, like Ornithoctoninae, they appear to have been written by, and from the point of view of, those who keep them as pets.) Peter coxhead (talk) 06:33, 6 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]