Smokehound714
Arachnoking
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Call me crazy, but juveniles I find of this size generally look naked with just the patch of urticating hairs..
Found in orange county.
did I just discover a new dwarf aphono??
- Thread starter Smokehound714
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Call me crazy, but juveniles I find of this size generally look naked with just the patch of urticating hairs..
Found in orange county.
scorpio948
Arachnopeon
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One sure way to find out: keep it for a couple years and see how big it gets.
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Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
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Good stuff! The species descriptions for our CA Aphonopelmas are generally lousy so I doubt you'll be able to come to much of a conclusion based on size or appearance alone... could this just be a smaller/drabber specimen of the "phanum-type" Aphonos you've previously found in OC? I don't know anything about A. phanum so I can't really say at what size they start to take on adult coloration.
Smokehound714
Arachnoking
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Im so confused right now. This thing looks like a 10-year old aphono, to me. it's also alot more drab, lacks the awesome coppery sheen, looks grey-ish.
Edit: I think phanum is a bologna name, because it's only described from laguna beach, which is true eutylenum territory. I check around that area, and i have yet to find a 'eutylenum-type', just the normal true eutylenum, which have a dark brown carapace, and black legs/body.
the reason im dismissing phanum, is because that name is old and outdated, from the 40's.
(the above pic belongs to z32upgrader from his post in the new aphonopelma picture thread I posted in the tarantula pictures forum, one of his aphonopelma seemani slings)
See, all the others i find around the size of the specimen in my opening post look like this. So im totally confused.
Edit: I think phanum is a bologna name, because it's only described from laguna beach, which is true eutylenum territory. I check around that area, and i have yet to find a 'eutylenum-type', just the normal true eutylenum, which have a dark brown carapace, and black legs/body.
the reason im dismissing phanum, is because that name is old and outdated, from the 40's.
(the above pic belongs to z32upgrader from his post in the new aphonopelma picture thread I posted in the tarantula pictures forum, one of his aphonopelma seemani slings)
See, all the others i find around the size of the specimen in my opening post look like this. So im totally confused.
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Yeah, you might well be on to something... I imagine this is the sort of thing an actual arachnologist would have to weigh in on. I'm sure you understand better than most that there are supposedly a lot of different Aphonopelma species down here and telling them apart/understanding which are actual species is pretty murky stuff.
Smokehound714
Arachnoking
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Haha, im gonna just stop attempting to use names. I'm just gonna call them "socal fuzzy-butts".. It's just criminal how under-studied our inverts are. It makes me so mad sometimes.
By now these should have a name.. unless like.. chevron is paying people to turn their heads, or something. LOL (thats not a serious remark, my apologies to those with an unnatural affection towards oil, lol)
EDIT: i just tried to get another shot, and that little monster went nuclear on me! Im peeling off urticating hairs now.. ugh. It's quite defensive, it'll jump back and posture at me
Micrathena
Arachnoknight
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Aphonopelma smokehoundi.
A bit premature, sure, but still...
A bit premature, sure, but still...
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could be, but i got an Aphonopelma sp. a few weeks ago as a freebie, it's about the same size as yours, when it had a smaller abdomen it looked like the abdomen had a full uriticating hair and not a patch (just like yours) but the more i fed it, it became more like a patch..here she/he is now..
it would be great though if it is a dwarf sp. of Aphonopelma..
it would be great though if it is a dwarf sp. of Aphonopelma..
Smokehound714
Arachnoking
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I have seen a few like Behlei, which can mature at a small size. I do believe i remember josh_r posting a pic of a 3" mature male behlei.
Im just used to seeing juveniles larger than this with far less integument. Then again, as with all arachnids, specimens can vary in max size..
It's just strange, because the hairs are so thick, it's hard to see in that crummy photo..
I've seen teensey little 4mm phidippus audax males that were mature.
cgrinter
Arachnopeon
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I think the best, and only, thing to do with American Aphonopelma is to keep really good data with the animals we collect, raise to maturity and donate the specimens to someone working on the group, or at least to a major institution like the California Academy of Sciences where they would end up in the hands of someone working on the group in the future. From all that I've read it looks like the genitalia do little to help with identification and it mostly comes down to microscopic setae/structures and DNA. Figuring this all out will be a giant mess for some future PhD student/retired Arachnologist. And in the end we might only get a ballpark that is impossible to narrow down without a scanning electron microscope.
cgrinter
Arachnopeon
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Right so I guess Chris Hamilton is still working on the American Aphonopelma, an interview was posted here: http://birdspiders.ch/interview-chris-hamilton/
Send your spiders to him! (maybe haha)
Send your spiders to him! (maybe haha)
Smokehound714
Arachnoking
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Im sure i jumped the gun, and it's just a young eutylenum-type. Im not very well educated when it comes to theraphosidae, thanks to the lack of information.