Aphonopelma hentzi pairing suspended

Ok guys and gals. I've read reports on here about there being supposed dwarf forms of species within the aphonopelma genus. I've had since 2010 what I have believed until just now an adult female A. hentzi. I caught her down in central Arkansas in the trailer I was living in about 20 miles north of Conway. I'm sure she's an adult. She only molts every two years now since 2011 and has not gained any size with any molt since I've had her. She has a dls of 4" and that is her well stretched. I have relocated to north Arkansas since then and have been looking for a mate for her. Monday a friend from work brought me one and I was impressed at how big he was as soon as I saw him, but I kinda shrugged it off as him just being more leggy. So I prepped my girl, got her good and fed the day before I was to introduce the two. But when I finally got around to it just a few minutes ago I noticed a major descrepancy between the two. This guy is WAY bigger than my girl. Not just leg span, but leg thickness, carapace width and length, it dwarfs my girl! I immediatly removed him and put him back in his enclosure for now. This is really puzzling me. There is only supposed to be two described species of aphonopelma here in Arkansas, A. hentzi and another obscure one from around Fayetteville. I would have to look that one up to get the name, but that is in the north west corner of Arkansas. I do believe I need to go hunting for some local adult females for comparison between them and my female. I have to get to the bottom of this or else it will drive me nuts.

---------- Post added 10-01-2014 at 09:52 PM ----------

Ok, apparently there has been two other potential species described here in Arkansas. A. baergi and A. odelli. Only problem is both are in question as both have only been described by a single female, no male from either, and baergi could very well have been a mislabeled brachypelma species collected in Mexico due to the presence of fused spermatheca which is a trait of brachypelma. Either way, both are presumed synonymous with A. hentzi and neither are found anywhere close to where I collected this girl.

I wouldn't pair her, just to be safe.

Don't worry bro. I'm not.

both those species are synonyms of hentzi. In the earlier times, people went rampant with naming every slightly different looking aphono they found.

Many species are invalid.

this is personal observation with 4 of my female aphonopelma hentzis. As sub adults they were a dull brown. Then as maturing molt they got a vivid goldish carapace with red satea on abdamon. My female that laid egg sac developed a black patch of uricating hairs on the back of her abdamon. the next molt two of my females develope a darker caraspace almost a dark olive drab color and one of them was the one that had the egg sac she lost the black patch in molt. So from sub adult to now I have witnesed three slight color morphs in just female aphonopelma hentzis plus a uricating patch black spot in one. No wonder this species is hard to identify. Pictures of of spermathacae or DNA seems to be a more reliable way to identify. Cant wait till DNA sampling is available at the local Quick copy.

When she molts again, take a good photo of the spermathecae. I have females here that are less than 4" DLS that have produced eggsacs - two of them directly from the wild. I am also finding mature males that are nearly 5", as well as those just at 4", from the exact same location (a single property in North DFW area). I have over 30 animals from that ONE property and they are a variety of sizes for "mature female" and mature male.

Yes, hold off on breeding her to be safe, but she might be mature enough to breed, just small.

Thanks everyone! I guess I could just have a small female and a really big male. My friend who brought him to me said he was even surprised at how big this male was. Perhaps there are different sets of alleles in this species and others which could affect size and coloration. Merely speculation on my part. I still plan on observing some local specimens around the lake this weekend. There seems to be a good population there.

My mature male A. iodius has a 4" legspan, and a 2.5" body length, while my female has a 5.5" legspan, and a 4" body. She dwarfs him severely to the point that I feel he wont successfully mate :\

Arachnids of a single species in one population alone can vary in size, just like any other animal. Males tend to display this the most, for some reason.

They will mate, you should see how bad the dwarfism is over here.

They will mate. I have several adult females at that size as well.

Can you post a picture of her?

I wish I could post a picture. My phone sucks...