Record of Poecilotheria regalis Pocock, 1899 from Nallamala Hills, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh

Zoo Outreach Organisation; www.zoosprint.org 1668 The Nallamala (15 0 20'-16 0 31'N & 78 0 30'-80 0 10'E) is a group of low hill ranges in the central part of Eastern Ghats. It is an unbroken chain of rugged hills spread over 7,640km 2 (Srinivasulu & Nagulu, 2002). The vegetation is typically of southern tropical dry deciduous and southern tropical moist deciduous forest types intermingled with scrub (Champion & Seth, 1968). The climate is generally hot and dry with temperature rising up to 43 0 C to 45 0 C during May and dips down to 8 0 C in December. Average rainfall in this region is between 900 to l,000mm. It includes two protected areas, namely the Nagarjuanasagar Srisailam Wildlife Sanctuary and the Gundla Brahmeshwaram Metta Wildlife Sanctuary. Surveys were carried out in selected locations of Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve) from December 2001 onwards to document the faunal diversity. During the survey we sighted Poecilotheria regalis Pocock, 1899 in different locations. To study these large bodied spiders we basically relied on indirect evidence including exuvia and silk lined burrows/holes on tree trunks.