First distribution record of a tarantula spider found in the United Arab Emirates

Steve Nunn

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Hi guys,
Here's a new paper by Priscilla van Andel on the "First distribution record of a tarantula (Araneae, Theraphosidae) spider found in the United Arab Emirates", published in Tribulus Vol.22 (Journal of The Emirates Natural History Group). It appears this is a new species from the ischnocoline genus Ischnocolus, to which Rick West, Jose Guadanucci and myself will be describing (in prep, I'm honoured to be working alongside Jose, as is Rick). We have material and are working on them alongside Rick's and my other work on Selenocosmiinae (and Volker too, David Court also, the selenocosmiine stuff...). Here's the article (pretty species): http://www.mediafire.com/view/bzx3uasr51yx7y7/Van_Andel_2014_Trib_22.pdf and further, the entire issue will soon be available here: http://www.enhg.org/Home/Publications/Tribulus.aspx....WELL DONE PRISCILLA!!!!

Image by Rick West:


Enjoy!
Steve
 
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jigalojey

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Top job Steve and Rick, first Tarantula ever discovered in UAE huh?
 
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Steve Nunn

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Yes, this is the first published confirmed record, there have been anecdotal reports, but no evidence of discovery, Priscila was the first to actually do something about them :) It's been a long road for Priscila.........so it's great to see this one hit publication!! A fine work IMO ;) These are BIG for an Ischnocolus species too.......
 

Rhodin

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That's one pretty T. I'm sure they'll cost an arm and a leg if/when they hit the pet trade.
 

problemchildx

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Steve,

I've admired your work over the years along with Rick. What a beautiful species too! I imagine UAE is generally pretty hot and arid. Do you think it will be reclassified into a separate genus due to the size? I understand some of the other species of ischnocolus come from Spain which might be a little similar to this area.

Either way congrats and happy holidays :)
 

awiec

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That is a charming spider, I don't expect to see if for years but that metallic-silver blue carapace will be sure to make this thing popular.
 

Steve Nunn

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Steve,

I've admired your work over the years along with Rick. What a beautiful species too! I imagine UAE is generally pretty hot and arid. Do you think it will be reclassified into a separate genus due to the size? I understand some of the other species of ischnocolus come from Spain which might be a little similar to this area.

Either way congrats and happy holidays :)
Thanks!! :) No, we see this species as a sister species to Ischnocolus jickelii, it has no traits of generic significance that would warrant a new genus (particularly a monotypic one, hate those new monotypic 'genera' descriptions: I have a strong belief that to do a new genus description, best to have more than just one species to represent it, sometimes this is unavoidable, monotypic genera do exist, no solid rules in nature, extinction events occur leaving monotypic genera, a fact of life)...and we are spending some time examining the surrounding fauna, that will be a focal point of the upcoming work, I don't want to give too much away now without my co-authors getting involved :)
 

Poec54

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That is a charming spider, I don't expect to see if for years
The old adage: When a new species is discovered, two Germans are buying airline tickets and packing suitcases full of vials. It's only a matter of time before they're bred in Europe.
 

Sana

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We have a lot to learn when it comes to tarantulas. Almost every species in this country came over as CBB slings from Europe.
Does anyone ever feel like hanging out in Europe for a couple years to figure out what keepers there are doing differently?
 

Storm76

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WoW! Another tarantula with blueish legs? How awesome is that? Thanks for the heads-up, Steve!


Does anyone ever feel like hanging out in Europe for a couple years to figure out what keepers there are doing differently?
As for this: For one, a lot of them keep them at exactly the suggested humidity percentages, most use glass cages with "heavy-duty" ventialtion ribs (2mm thick aluminium) and tons of bickering. There's a reason why I stay on AB instead of on the boards here in my country...
 

Philth

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Beautiful spider Steve, looking forward to reading the paper.

Almost every species in this country came over as CBB slings from Europe.
Well to be fair, they also have access to them first, due to relaxed laws and smuggling. Give us a little credit, you're being to hard on us ;)

Later, Tom
 

Steve Nunn

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The US has its own share of highly knowledgeable breeders, Chris Allen comes to in mind to me immediately, among others. Chris focuses on Selenocosmiinae (among others), those really were the realm of the European breeders, for a while, but Chris, well, he took the time to talk with and listen to what the European guys were saying (and I got my share of emails ;) ), and instead of arguing about it, he tried it, and it worked. He breeds them as well as any European breeder. The information has always been there, I believe the issue was never to do with lack of info, just which sources to follow, and facts were, the European community knows how to breed Selenocosmiinae well!! The same applies to many other taxa, not just selenocosmiines.... I would guess the issue came about, because the US were in general focusing on what was already well known, and how to further expand upon that work, improve it. And for sure, many discoveries have been made. But with the European guys, they tended to always focus on what was new to the hobby, and how to best get that species stabilized in the hobby through captive breeding, and that means a LOT of specimens, and often with many failures in hard to breed species (L.robustus comes to mind immediately, as does L. lessunda, however with that species I think it was more to do with the fact the US received the first wild caught generation). But there's reason in citing L. lessunda (it had a common hobby name, "Capiz' Birdspider"), it IS a classic example, nobody could keep them going in the US, as far as I know, this species has died out in captivity. And it does seem, when it comes to new species, the European guys do seem to find and bring back more new species. Those 2 issues have to be the cause....

EDIT: Add Philth to that list above!!
 
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