US Native Tarantulas

First off, my name's Justin. I only have one tarantula right now. It's a common pink toe tarantula. I've only had it for about a month now and I love it! I know I'm going to get more eventually and wanted to choose a native species to the US. I really like the desert blonde tarantula, but wanted to know all my options. The problem is I can't find any info online about which ones are native. Does anyone know a good site to visit that has a list of them? Thanks for the help.

Read more here: http://aphonopelma.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/tarantulas-of-the-united-states-2/?preview=true&preview_id=16&preview_nonce=199110922c

Aphonopelma Species North of Mexico
A total of 54 Aphonopelma species have been described as occurring in the United States. The genus as a whole contains 90 species (Platnick, 2010). State lists are based on species type localities and other published information. The absence of a state, that lies within the known range of the genus, from the list does not suggest Aphonopelma species do not occur there but rather a lack of published occurrences. Very little research has been conducted to fully define the actual range of most species. Given the taxonomic uncertainties associated with this genus, many of the species listed below may not represent valid taxa.

Arizona
A. apacheum, A. behlei, A. chalcodes, A. gabeli, A. jungi, A. lithodomum, A. minchi, A. paloma, A. phasmus, A. punzoi, A. rothi, A. stahnkei, A. schmidti, and A. vorhiesi
For A. paloma see Prentice (1992)

Arkansas
A. baergi, A. hentzi, and A. odelli
For the status of Aphonopelma in Arkansas see Warriner (2008)

California
A. brunnius, A. chamberlini, A. chambersi, A. clarum, A. cratium, A. cryptethum, A. eutylenum, A. iodius, A. iviei, A. joshua, A. marxi, A. mojave, A. phanum, A. radinum, A. reversum, A. sandersoni, A. sullivani, and A. smithi
For A. joshua and A. mojave see Prentice (1997)

Colorado
A. coloradanum, A. echinum, and A. hentzi

Kansas
A. hentzi

Louisiana
A. hentzi

Missouri
A. hentzi

New Mexico
A. hentzi and A. vogeli

Nevada
A. mojave
For A. mojave see Prentice (1997)

Oklahoma
A. hentzi, A. odelli, and A. wichitanum

Texas
A. anax, A. armada, A. arnoldi, A. breenei, A. clarki, A. gurleyi, A. harlingenum, A. hentzi, A. heterops, A. hollyi, A. moderatum, A. mordax, A. steindachneri, A. texense, and A. waconum

Utah
A. iodius, A. mojave, and A. zionis
For A. mojave see Prentice (1997)

Thanks so much! That's exactly what I was looking for.

This list of U.S. species is very incomplete. There are many more species found in many of these states. The whole genus is being revised and broken up. I haven't kept up on this in quite a while. Anyone know whats gone on with the revision yet??

Aphonopelma make great pet tarantulas. If you get one, you'll love it.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about the revisions!

josh_r said:

This list of U.S. species is very incomplete. There are many more species found in many of these states. The whole genus is being revised and broken up. I haven't kept up on this in quite a while. Anyone know whats gone on with the revision yet??

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That list is complete. Compare it to that of the World Spider Catalog. If you are aware of species that are missing I would be interested to know which ones you are thinking about. No new Aphonopelma species have been named in the U.S. in sometime (1990s) and no real published revision of current taxa has occurred either. True, we are waiting on current work by certain research groups to be published which will change this list. Hasn't happened yet.

Would love to see more of them in the wild I have only seen A. Hentzi on the one trip I took out West. After seeing the above list the trip would be well worth it.

Vespula said:

Aphonopelma make great pet tarantulas. If you get one, you'll love it.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about the revisions!

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Yeah, I'm getting one for sure. Probably a few actually. Lol I can't wait.

Been to Utah in winter and it reminded me of Canada (freezing). I am really surprised that there are wild Ts there!

MadDog said:

Yeah, I'm getting one for sure. Probably a few actually. Lol I can't wait.

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For me, Aphonopelma are the most addictive genus. They make up a good chunk of my collection.

AR-Tarantula said:

That list is complete. Compare it to that of the World Spider Catalog. If you are aware of species that are missing I would be interested to know which ones you are thinking about. No new Aphonopelma species have been named in the U.S. in sometime (1990s) and no real published revision of current taxa has occurred either. True, we are waiting on current work by certain research groups to be published which will change this list. Hasn't happened yet.

Click to expand...

The world spider catalog only list by country, not state. I think the intent of the "incomplete" post by josh_r was to say that some of the species listed are also found in other states, that were not identified by Schoolman above. For example, I have caught A. mojave and A. iodius in Nevada, but that list only states A. mojave.