Discovered a new species of Tarantula

z32upgrader · Oct 29, 2012

This past Saturday, I had a special guest in my home, Dr. Brent Hendrixson, Assistant Professor of Biology, Millsaps College, Jackson MS. He came over to see a mature male dwarf tarantula I came across recently. I contacted him by email offering to send him in the mail. Brent just happened to be nearby here in Arizona and bee-lined to my house to get him. Dr. Hendrixson confirmed that it was an undescribed species of Aphonopelma completely new to science. How exciting!

alpine · Oct 29, 2012

that is spectacular O.O

nepenthes · Oct 29, 2012

Man o man! I wanna move to the south west states just to be able to find some wild creatures like this! Any idea what you plan on naming the new species? How does that work?

z32upgrader · Oct 29, 2012

nepenthes said:
Man o man! I wanna move to the south west states just to be able to find some wild creatures like this! Any idea what you plan on naming the new species? How does that work?

I'll be staying in contact with him over the next few months. Not sure If I'll get full naming rights or not. At the very least, a mention in his paper submitted to a scientific journal he is drafting which has already been accepted. He says that he posts pictures he takes of his spiders on his Facebook page too. I don't have Facebook, but I'll post whatever hi-res pictures he sends me here.

Piperwillow · Oct 29, 2012

WoW!..Ummm...Wow!! Was he difficult to catch? Was he moving fast? Did he just walk up to you and take a bow...and I'm talking about the tarantula, of course -Pipe ; )

Bugmom · Oct 29, 2012

How freaking cool is that?! I'm envious!

jen650s · Oct 29, 2012

Bugmom said:
How freaking cool is that?! I'm envious!

Me too! And you and I both live in T territory, makes me want to go hunting!

z32upgrader · Oct 29, 2012

Piperwillow said:
WoW!..Ummm...Wow!! Was he difficult to catch? Was he moving fast? Did he just walk up to you and take a bow...and I'm talking about the tarantula, of course -Pipe ; )

He was easy to catch and was climbing on the wall of my friend's house on the afternoon of October 12th. Thought it was just a juvenile until I saw his tibial hooks and realized this was a MM

Legion09 · Oct 29, 2012

Very awesome! Our T's need more cataloging something fierce..

captmarga · Oct 30, 2012

Congratulations! I'd be going out hunting for any burrows within a half-mile radius. There has to be a female out there, too. Find a few females in burrows, mark them and see what you find come spring!

Marga

catfishrod69 · Nov 8, 2012

So any updates on this?

AvicVerso · Nov 9, 2012

z32upgrader said:
Not sure If I'll get full naming rights or not. At the very least, a mention in his paper

well even if you get the scientific name, what do you want the common name to be? Looking at it I was thinking red rump grey face

MarkmD · Nov 9, 2012

Pretty cool.

Alltheworld601 · Nov 9, 2012

I'm just in awe, this is one of the coolest posts to hit these boards since I've been here! Also, that little T is adorable.

VictorHernandez · Nov 9, 2012

Woooow that's just great.

Aarantula · Nov 9, 2012

Congrats! The even cooler thing is that there is probably a female around your buddy's house somewhere!!! Get there and go hunting!!!

Any pics under better lighting so we could really see the colors???

Drezno · Nov 9, 2012

Did the biologist have to kill the spider in order to properly ID it?

z32upgrader · Nov 9, 2012

catfishrod69 said:
So any updates on this?

Yes in fact! I was at school today when I just so happened to find a second one huddled in the rocks in front of the Library trying to take shelter from the cold and gusty winds associated with the storm that's rolling into town. Dr. Hendrixson is going to be paying me a second visit to get this guy too. My good friend Nikki1984 took a bunch of really nice pictures of the first one which are below.

z32upgrader · Nov 9, 2012

Here's the find from earlier today. This guy's a bit rougher than than the last one missing one leg and one pedipalp.

Drezno said:
Did the biologist have to kill the spider in order to properly ID it?

No I don't believe it's necessary to kill the spider. In fact, a live specimen is required to properly describe a new species.

Ivymike1973 · Nov 9, 2012

That is so cool. congratulations on your find. Those little guys are adorable.

Discovered a new species of Tarantula

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