Rick C. West

Rick C. West (born 3 December 1951) is a Canadian arachnologist and an expert on the taxonomy of tarantula spiders.^[1][2] West was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He has been interested in spiders since childhood, and collected his first tarantula, Aphonopelma eutylenum, at the age of 13. He worked primarily as a Chief Constable for a local Animal Humane Society, but also have been involved with the collecting, breeding, rearing and photography of theraphosid spiders.^[3] West has traveled to over 27 countries to document and study them in their environment, has been a host, presenter and co-producer in several tarantula documentaries and has also described several genera and species.^{[1][4][5][6][7][8]}