INNER VIEW: ANDREW M. SMITH
Page 3 of 4 | 2005 Interview by Michael Jacobi
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MJ: How many trips to India and Sri Lanka have you personally made for this book?
AMS: The Poecilotheria book has involved seven field trips to India and Sri Lanka, including a field trip to Sri Lanka that I undertook twenty years odd ago to find P. fasciata. In addition I have had on the payroll, over the last three years—at various stages in the project—three young Indian researchers and one Sri Lankan to gather additional behavioural, distribution, folklore and medicinal data. One young man, Jackin Jayaram, even managed to locate a Spider Temple, which features prominently in the folklore and mythology chapter. I am also indebted to IUCN Sri Lanka who have supported the project with much gusto. My grateful thanks also to my long-suffering friend and traveling companion Paul Carpenter who has had to put up with much over the last twenty years and can still raise a grin.
MJ: To what extent is captive husbandry and propagation covered in the book? Was the arachnocultural community supportive in sharing their breeding experiences and methods?
AMS: The captive breeding and husbandry chapter are the preserve of Peter Kirk and his key researcher Ray Gabriel. I am indebted to the pair of them for undertaking what will be an important part of the book for many readers. Michael, I am sure that they will be studying your mist apparatus with great interest. My own one has proved very useful in reviving a friend's collection of flagging Cuban cigars and the subfusca, in whose tank the experiment has taken place, has recently requested a cigar cutter and a box of matches Ð thus we may deem the experiment to be of great value. The top European breeders: Verdez, Pedersen, Wessell, Kroes and Märklin, have also enthusiastically assisted Ray [Jean-Michel Verdez (France), Nicolai Pedersen (Denmark), Henrik Wessell Frank (Denmark), Thorsten Kroes (Switzerland) and Thomas Märklin (Switzerland)]. I have also had the great privilege of being given access to the breeding recollections of Britain's leading theraphosid breeder Ron Baxter.
MJ: Hobbyists debate about whether Poecilotheria ornata or P. rufilata is the larger tiger spider, but a very reliable source who has observed these spiders in their natural state has told me that he has seen P. miranda equally large. What is the biggest "Poec" you have seen wild, captive or preserved?
AMS: 
Off the top of my hat the biggest Poecilotheria specimen in the museum collections is probably a 100-year-old specimen of P. bara/subfusca in the Harvard collection. Found north of Kandy near Matale, the specimen is certainly the biggest subfusca found to date and probably represented in the past the most northerly range of this species. Unfortunately, on investigation, the region has been found to be extensively cleared and it is likely that this large form is now lost. I would agree that P. ornata is big and leggy and has certainly produced the largest males. It is also a somewhat pugnacious species, a specimen at Kitulgala having shinned up my leg and bitten my calf through my trousers. But in reality a number of Poecilotheria species have the potential to grow large in the safe environment of your collection and both miranda and rufilata have the potential to introduce an element of surprise to your life.
MJ: You recently described a new species of Poecilotheria: P. hanumavilasumica Smith, 2004. This species inhabits tamarind trees upon holy ground and you have proposed the development of a sanctuary. Can you offer any update on this? Does the fact that they exist on temple property in a sense already protect them?
AMS: Poecilotheria hanumavilasumica is certainly a lucky spider in that it is one of the very few endangered Poecilotheria species (and most Poecilotheria species have at least part of their distribution in a national park), which despite the fact that it is seriously threatened by the destruction of its habitat, at least has a sizable colony on a scientifically important Tamarind plantation and local holy site. The London Zoological Society has funded a survey of the site, which is about to be undertaken by the Indian conservation group Zoo Outreach. Unfortunately, both the BTS and myself have had to withdraw from the project because of a series of unfounded, malicious rumours that have linked me and the society with tarantula smuggling. Although these accusations are false, in Indian politics an Indian conservation group cannot be seen to be accepting funds from a western organisation that is perceived to have links with wildlife smugglers.
I have discovered recently that P. smithi is a considerably more endangered spider. This spider would appear to be in serious trouble and although it was thought to inhabit the hills around Kandy, surveys by a small IUCN team and myself could only find P. subfusca. The P. smithi type collection site at Haragama has been essentially cleared and turned into market gardens and it would seem that this species does not have the security of a local national park to harbour at least part of its distribution. This spider has got problems and is the Poecilotheria species that we need to talk about for an international captive breeding programme.
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