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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeef" data-source="post: 235728" data-attributes="member: 36825">The Banana Boat song is the reason I ended up with a Grammostola pulchra. That was the only black tarantula from South America that I could come up with at the time. I've learned different since then, but here is what I figured out.As an aside, she is one of the few tarantulas who has a name. We call her Carmen after Carmen Miranda. Also, the kid sings the line as "hides the medically insignificant, black tarantula."Problem is, Grammostola aren't deadly. Which pointed to Phoneutria. They are big, there are some dark ones, and a bite is no joke! They aren't tarantulas, but most folks don't differentiate past really big spider.I was perfectly satisfied with that as an answer. Then I found out the song most likely originated in Jamaca. Jamaca has spiders with medically significant bites, but nothing even close to the size of a tarantula.I'm still sanding by Phoneutria. I do love listening to Henry Belafonte!</blockquote>