This beautiful velvety looking spider is a female MEXICAN RED RUMP TARANTULA.  This species is a ground dwelling, burrowing tarantula and whilst it is found mainly in Mexico it is also sometimes found further south in central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize.  It is a species which favours dry scrubland habitats.

Like all of my tarantulas this individual was bred in captivity and she is very tolerant of handling.  Despite being perfectly capable of kicking the urticating hairs off of her abdomen in defence against predators (these hairs cause extreme itching and are kicked into the faces of predators) she does not do this as long as she doesn't feel threatened and she has never done it to me!

You can see from the pictures below where this species gets the common name 'red rump' from, as the sensory hairs on her abdomen are a beautiful scarlet red colour! 

The species is sometimes also known by another common name which is the Mexican black velvet tarantula, this is because of their beautiful black velvety legs!