I work part-time at a small arthropod museum in Philadelphia. One of the critters in their collection is a rose haired taratntula whose hair is much longer on one side of her body than on the other. She seems to be split right down the center. Also, her carapace seems to have less rosy iridescence on the side with the shorter hair. I'm wondering why she's like this and hope someone here can provide an answer. I've attached two photos for your reference, and can take more if needed.
Bisected Hair Growth on Rosehaired Tarantula
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MB623
Arachnoknight
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Wow, looks like someone shaved it. Tarantula pattern baldness?
3skulls
Arachnobaron
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That's crazy looking.
Marijan2
Arachnobaron
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Try breeding it, maybe it's genetic
MarkmD
Arachnoprince
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Pretty mad looking lol.
Oreo
Arachnocookie
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She's definitely an interesting specimen, especially since half her legs lack the same growth of hair as the others. I would guess it's a quirk in her genetics unless she's a hybrid. Most other rosea species seem to look like her left side though. Can you draw us a family tree? 
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Wow. Very interesting. Has she been through a molt and still looked like that?
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This is so neat! I'm very interested in any results you find- I will throw my vote into the Genetics theory. ;D Please keep us posted if you find any hard evidence for a cause! She's fabulous!
Silberrücken
Arachnoangel
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Oh, good, call, Silver!
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My guess would be a chimera. Or Photoshop, since I'm not familiar with the OP and the exact identity and location of this "small arthropod museum in Philadelphia" isn't offered.
Perhaps more information would be helpful.
Silberrücken
Arachnoangel
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With all due respect, I do not believe those photos are photoshopped. Sarah was invited here to share this unique rosea with the T community. She is looking for answers to further understand what is going on with this tarantula.
Here is the small Arthropod Museum in Philadelphia: http://www.myinsectarium.com/
We are all here to learn.
Stan, since your guess is Chimera, can you tell us about this? What it is, how it happens, etc.? Thank you in advance.
Premolt? HAHAHAHAHAHAHH
A chimera is "an organism composed of two or more genetically distinct tissues, as an organism that is partly male and partly female, or an artificially produced individual having tissues of several species."
http://tarantuladesign.blogspot.com/2010/12/chimera-definition.html
A chimera is "an organism composed of two or more genetically distinct tissues, as an organism that is partly male and partly female, or an artificially produced individual having tissues of several species."
http://tarantuladesign.blogspot.com/2010/12/chimera-definition.html
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Just mentioning possibilities, not making accusations. Without some credentials anything's possible.
Remember Camel spiders in Iraq, or the giant centipede?
This is not an aspect of biology that I'm very well versed in. You'd better check Wikipedia or Google chimera site:.edu for more authoritative information.... Stan, since your guess is Chimera, can you tell us about this? What it is, how it happens, etc.? Thank you in advance.
As I understand it, a chimera is formed when one or more embryonic cells from different parents or different genomes coalesce into one embryo and develop far enough along to be a recognizable organism. If the resulting organism, a chimera, survives, it is a medley of the two different cell lines. Exactly which organs and tissues are derived from which cell line is mostly a matter of chance and the details of the chimera's embryological development.
Note that in a chimera, there is no exchange of genetic material between the two cell lines. They are NOT some sort of weird hybrid! They're more or less like two separate organisms blenderized at the cellular, tissue, or organ level.
Assuming that the photo is real, one could spin a story that in this particular instance an egg had been produced by the female that had two nuclei. In my state of benighted ignorance I can imagine this happening by the developing oocytes failing to separate into individual ova, but rather remaining together as one cell with two nuclei. During fertilization, each nucleus was fertilized by a different sperm, thus explaining the apparent differences in the two halves.
Someone may have to confirm or correct me, but as I remember from my embryology course of nearly 50 years ago (= potentially out-of-date data
), each oocyte "inherits" half of the chromosome set of the original oogonium. Thus, they possess complimentary, but not necessarily identical sets of chromosomes. This makes the two ova resulting from each oogonium different from each other, aside and apart from any differences later imparted by the fertilizing sperm. This adds an additional dimension of variability.And, because of the peculiar way that spider embryos develop, the chimera developed bilaterally rather than as a melange of islets that we see in mammalian chimeras.
There's another facet to this story that needs attention. The mere fact that two individual Chilean roses could have such marked differences in their bristle coats is quite interesting. I suppose that most of us sort of had a subliminal feeling that such would be possible, but the photograph, true or not, graphically illustrates the existence of at least those two complimentary characteristics: Long bristles, and short bristles. This, in turn, affords us another inheritable character to play with when planning on breeding these enigmatic creatures in captivity! Have at it, mates!
Enjoy your little, 8-legged, piebald WHAT-THE-H***-IS-THAT?
Kazaam
Arachnobaron
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What the ?
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prairiepanda
Arachnoknight
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Now I'm curious about the possibility of breeding for a short bristles. Anyone ever seen short bristles in a rosie? Think of all the different colours and fur types we've bred for in mice and gerbils! It would take an aweful long time to get consistent results with Ts, but I think it would be neat to have traits that are only available in the pet trade. It would certainly give breeders an edge over wild specimen collectors!
As for the chimera; can you get any background info on it? Any molts?
As for the chimera; can you get any background info on it? Any molts?
poisoned
Arachnodemon
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That would be a lifetime project. Roseas take loooong time to mature and breed. It would be better to go with something fast growing first.
Health problems are also likely to occur in such projects.
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Wow I've never seen anything like that, I'm also voting on genetics, it couldn't really be anything else. Has the T always been like this throughout it's whole life?
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What are you doing for the rest of your life? Besides all the important, critical things you do (e.g., watching Sunday afternoon football, ogling the neighbor's spouse, growing veggies in a garden that cost twice those in the local grocery...) why not spend a little time thinking deep thoughts about tarantula genetics, embryology, and generic animal husbandry?
We can trace a tarantula's ancestry back over HALF A BILLION YEARS. They've had that long to develop and fine tune their lives and lifestyles. They're incredibly complex and detailed creatures. We're gonna be playing catch-up (that's the newbie part) for a long, LONG, LONG time! (Quoted from Stan's Newbie Introduction.)
Pay attention to your little 8-legged buddy. It's trying to teach you something!