Found new species of Chinese Macrothele..

[MaartenSFS]

I'll try to get photos as soon as I can, but they are similar-looking to this one:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e166/MaartenSFS/Veldreis%202/27.jpg

but over double the body length and much more evil. I brought back two females and two males from our trip yesterday. The males are much smaller than the females, which are over 2cm in body length.

The funnels were found in roadcuts and burrowed up into the mud and stone slabs. I used a small gardening shovel to excavate them, though I lost a lot of them due to their complicated burrow systems, which were often quite deep - almost half a metre. I knew many were home because they were still lurking in their funnel around midday.

When I put them in the enclosures I prepared the largest female immediately made a funnel in a small "cave" I constructed and I was already able to feed it the same night (AWESOME). I put one male and one female together and they each made separate funnels. Has anyone had success in breeding these?

Does anyone have information on M. guizhouensis and M. hunanica? I'm not sure what species this should be but I read that they were putting M. guizhouensis up for sale for 167$, which is a lot if they are WC.

[Aracnobreed]

:worship: CooL :worship:

[buthus]

Well..hey! if that one in the pic was crawling round where Im at, Id think for sure it was one of our local traps.
Post them pics :clap: ;)

[MaartenSFS]

I can't take a shot of one for the life of me, but when they get some nice funnels going I'll try again. Their feeding habits are just as cool as trapdoors (Which I still haven't been able to find.. :( ).

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
what makes you think it is a new species?
Or do you mean it is "just" a new species to you/your collection?

I can only tell you how the Macrothele sp. you were asking about look like.

[MaartenSFS]

I mean that it is a new species that I have personally found. Any of the species I am finding could be new species or subspecies and when and if I begin to export any we will all find out exactly what they are. Until I can only dream.. :D

I'll get those photos soon! ;)

Can you tell me anything about the sizes and toxicity of these species?:

Very near me:
M. guizhouensis
M. hunanica

Far, but curious:
M. Raveni
M. bannaensis
M. yunnanica

Not sure:

M. palpator
M. monocirculata

The specimens I found could be the same species as the one pictured above, although there was a big size difference between females of the two. They seem to live in colonies, but never very dense. Often males had a funnel near the females and the bigger the funnel the bigger the spider in most cases.

[krabbelspinne]

I have a similar one, found in Henan... look at this pic:

[MaartenSFS]

Quite similar.. Is it pre-moult and what's the body length? Are you sure it was Henan and not Hunan? I didn't think they had any that far north.

[jeff h]

krabbelspinne, any more images from different angles?
Looks like a Nemesiid.

[MaartenSFS]

Well, we have those too over here, though I haven't been able to find any yet. Might be useful to see the spinnerets..

[krabbelspinne]

Yes, it was Henan near the Dengfeng village.

I am sure my one is not a macrothele, but something else quite near to this... or what do you think?

It was hidden under a stone, there was no webbing, no net....

[MaartenSFS]

What's the body length and did it have a burrow (Some trapdoors don't have lids)? Cool find, though. I assume you were at the Shaolin temple, then? If it's a trapdoor then you are very lucky. I have flipped thousands of rocks with no such luck. :wall:

[jeff h]

Yes, it was Henan near the Dengfeng village.

I am sure my one is not a macrothele, but something else quite near to this... or what do you think?

It was hidden under a stone, there was no webbing, no net....

I believe it is Raveniola. Spinneret and sternum images possible?

[krabbelspinne]

@ Maarten:
Yes, I have been to the temple as every year... :)

@ all:
The spider still lives here in Germany. If I have time, I will post you the pics...