This large, heavy-bodied terrestrial from Brazil reaches around 20 cm (8") in legspan, occasionally larger and there are claims that they can attain up to 25 cm (10")! They occur in the rainforest where they often carve their way into rotten stumps or burrow their way underneath fallen logs or directly into the soil. In appearance, they resemble a monochrome Mexican Red Knee (Brachypelma smithi). That is to say that they are essentially black with light tan banding and striping on the leg segments. There is also a similarly coloured band above the chelicerae and blonde to reddish pink hairs overall. Despite what I have read otherwise, I find that this species is quite gentle and rarely flicks hairs though they can be quite itchy when they do! This seems to vary widely between individuals and certainly causes one to doubt whether urticating hair types is really useful at in identifying these spiders! Like other Acanthoscurrias, they hatch small (less than 6 mm (1/4")) and have many babies (about 1000 - 1500). They develop their patterns early (about 2 cm (3/4") and are ravenous feeders, eagerly tackling food many times their size! They grow very rapidly and can develop full colours whithin a few months! They are easy to care for, tolerating a wide range of conditions from very moist to very dry, but seem to fare best a little on the dry side. They are not fussy about temperature either, but I find that they do not tolerate high temperatures as well as most species. I keep mine around 24 C - 28 C (75 F - 82 F), and use my own forest substrate mix. Longevity (like with all tarantulas) is highly variable, but they can reasonably live a good 20 years or more!