Okay and to just say i am not saying he is wrong... i wpuld just like an second opinionThat guy would be me. But let me help again with thes pictures and explanation:
Poecilotheria subfusca"Highland" = Light Carapace with pointed star around the fovea. Whole folio on the abdomen, and are 15-16 cm in legspan.
As juveniles, they are very easy to see gender differences. Females have large white markings between the patella
and femur, males have only two small bright lines on the patella.
Poecilotheria subfusca "Lowland" = Light gray / black Carapace with unclear star around the fovea. Distributed folio on the abdomen and is
18-20 cm in legspan. You cannot see the gender differences between P. sp. "Lowland", just by looking at the patella and femur.
The differences are best seen in mature individuals, many images on the Internet shows subadult individuals that do not show the
correct and clear differences between P. subfusca "Highland" and P. subfusca "Lowland".
Pociemon knows what here's talking about. Highlands have a darker carapace and folium, lowland's are lighter in those areas. Higlands also have a higher percentage of black on the dorsal part of their legs. Pretty straightforward. The additional black coloring is most likely to absorb sunlight and raise their body temps, as they live at 6,000+ feet.Okay and to just say i am not saying he is wrong... i wpuld just like an second opinion
I am sure it is. You can see the difference pretty early. I reccomend to wait a little until they maybe get around 1.2 inches in bodylength to be sure, but better is that the sellar know what he sells.
Correct. But unfortunately there has been and still am alot of confusion on this subject, so i understand if people want second opinions. As this T (highland) is my favorites, i have used alot of time talking to some of the guys who have their strength in taxonomi to be sure i can see the differences. There is alot of funny stuff out there on this subject, but not needed to go that much into details here, just trying to show the OP and others what they can look for to see which T they have.
Gotcha. I'm not an expert on "lowland" vs. "highland" differentiation so I just thought I would clarify whether the normal ID methods work at such a small size. What do you make of a spider like post 18 in this thread:
Definately highland. At this size i guess female, the males rarely is bigger than 10cm in legspan and is boring brown and very small on the body.Well this is all very interesting... i will for interest sake post more pics as she is growing up (Poeciemon it is a she in your opinion?) Thanc alot Poeciemon for your advice... i will try to find out with the guys i bought it from wherr they got it
How does this look? Highland or lowland? She is about 10cm or 4inches... this is not my T its a friends...
There is no doubt that there has been many breeding attemps between them because people dont know wich is wich, or simply because of mislabeling.I have never heard of succesfull breeding between them, but that is not to say it has not happened. I certainly hope not. Subfusca is difficult enough to breed if you get them right, highland the most difficult because the need a serious drop in temps. but i dont think it is a mess right now.
Well, if i can see it on the floium at this size, then you can too;-) it is a highland, not lowland as the guy writes. There is alot of confusion out there about who is who. People look at different things such as carapace, but i dont use that, it is way too risky, the differences is best shown on carapace if you have one of each next to eachother and a correct ID picture also, but not many have that. You can see it dorsally clearly when you know what you look for. Look at the picture where i have drawn on it, there is the differnce.
I would go with lowland when i see them dorsal. But the picture is a little tricky and they do differ alot in colouration, but the light can play a part here. But they look very lowland with the distributed folio(is there another word that is better to use? English is not my first language), but i do have doubts on the darker one, there seems to miss a dot on the apdomen.What would you say these 2 are:
These are both sisters around 10cm. The photo was taken with natural light outside and no flash, so this is their actual colouration.
Well the method is still valid. I have written that carapce ID is risky business, that is why i dont do it. regarding the lights, it is possible my old pc here does not make me any favors;-)
I agree that there are visible differences, I just think that there is a case of the lines being a bit blurred at times especially when you look at comparisons between two spiders from the same sac like that.
Yes, i agree about that, but for me this method worksout the best, but it is one of the most discussed subjects this highland/lowland thing, i am not surprised at the confusion out there!
It would be nice if the entire community could agree (I know this is impossible...) on the status of these though. All subfusca vs subfusca and lowland for once and for all, although looking at current papers they are one and the same. I have heard lots of speculation over the years that they will be split, but seems no one is willing to stick their neck out and actually write a paper.
i am pretty sure they will be split at some point. But for now i think we have to wait until some taxonomist comes up with solid answers.
