Paraphrynus raptator (successful breeding)

Phrynus · Mar 17, 2015

I introduced a trio for approximately 2 weeks, separating them on February 1st,,, today I went to feed and one of the females is gravid!
Pb

pannaking22 · Mar 18, 2015

Congrats! This would be a great species to get in the hobby!

wizentrop · Mar 18, 2015

Ahm... it is already in the hobby

Just not in the US

Phrynus · Mar 18, 2015

Paraphrynus raptator

Hi Wizentrop, Here's a pic of my male,,, would you post one of your males. I'm curious to see the differences and similarities. My specimens are from Florida and I believe you said yours were from Central America (?),,,

Anyway, this has been a great species to work with.

Phrynus · Mar 18, 2015

Pannaking,
Eventually I'd like to offer them on the market but unfortunately we haven't found any for over three years. I'm worried I might not be able to collect them again so I'll probably wait awhile before selling them. Good news is, I have 3 more adult pairs so It could happen in 2016 if I have good results.
Pb

wizentrop · Mar 19, 2015

Phrynus, thanks for posting a photo of your male. That specimen looks very strange for a P. raptator, but I have never seen ones from FL population. Very compact and small sized. Mine look entirely different.

Here is one of my males. Look at the leg proportions.. These are IDed 100% as P. raptator, but from C. America:

I am not saying yours are not P. raptator, but I am very curious about these differences. Maybe the FL population is selected to be smaller in body size?

Phrynus · Mar 19, 2015

I would bet they are two different species. None of the 13 adults that I have look like the specimen in your photo. If yours has a positive ID, I would bet mine is not Paraphrynus raptator. Very interesting! Thank you for the picture post.

---------- Post added 03-19-2015 at 01:11 PM ----------

I guess it's possible they're the same species, but I don't think so. No positive ID has ever been made on the specimens we collected. The picture of your male is so different from anything I have in my collection.

Phrynus · Mar 19, 2015

Adult pair

Do any of your animals look like any of these?

wizentrop · Mar 19, 2015

I admit I have never seen Paraphrynus like yours. They look like some robust grey version of P. mexicanus..
Surely you know that for identification of Amblypygi you need very high quality photos of very small parts of the pedipalps and legs. It is almost impossible to ID from regular photos, unless you are very familiar with the species (some popular species are very easy). Paraphrynus is a large genus with many difficult species.

Definitely keep the ones you have and let them breed if possible. It would be nice if you are able to show them to an expert at some point. Who knows, maybe something new to the US?..

pannaking22 · Mar 19, 2015

Phrynus said:
Pannaking,
Eventually I'd like to offer them on the market but unfortunately we haven't found any for over three years. I'm worried I might not be able to collect them again so I'll probably wait awhile before selling them. Good news is, I have 3 more adult pairs so It could happen in 2016 if I have good results.
Pb

Awesome, glad to hear it! No matter what species it is it would be great to have.

Wizentrop, very good point

You lucky Canadians and your amblypygids

Phrynus · Mar 20, 2015

spermatophore pic

Here is a Paraphrynus (sp?) Spermatophore,,, produced by the male in the pic below.

Banshee05 · Mar 20, 2015

this is based on the Pictures, and the morphological differecnes I can see, NEVER the same species.
Paul, yours look like P.cubensis from Cuba... may they are some invasive species... Cuba-Florida connection isn't that far away and could be possible.

Phrynus · Mar 20, 2015

I've considered the Cuba connection. It's only 90 nautical miles from our shore to theirs, so its very possible. Does anyone have pictures of P. cubensis?

Also, does anyone know an arachnologist here in the USA that specializes in amblypigids?

Banshee05 · Mar 21, 2015

look at my blog, you will find cubensis and viridiceps, very similar.
US: Prendini knows well this Group.

Ambly · Mar 26, 2015

E&A will likely know. Could they be P. barbadensis? I'll have to look at my female when I am home. That Paraphrynus raptator is incredible.

Phrynus · Mar 26, 2015

Hi Ambly,
These are Paraphrynus,,,, I believe the only Amblypigid species "barbadensis" is in the genus Phrynus.
Pb

Banshee05 · Mar 27, 2015

Phrynus said:
Hi Ambly,
These are Paraphrynus,,,, I believe the only Amblypigid species "barbadensis" is in the genus Phrynus.
Pb

? there is much more in the genus than barbadensis...
geographically the most closest is from the Bahamas and Cuba, and there you have in total ffff 15 different Phrynus species.

Phrynus · Mar 27, 2015

Banshee, please give me a little more credit than that

... I was merely stating that there's no Paraphrynus barbadensis,,, that species name only exists in the genus Phrynus... these are definitely Paraphrynus, so it's not possible.
Pb

Banshee05 · Mar 27, 2015

Phrynus said:
Banshee, please give me a little more credit than that ... I was merely stating that there's no Paraphrynus barbadensis,,, that species name only exists in the genus Phrynus... these are definitely Paraphrynus, so it's not possible.
Pb

haha

fine, no worry about. i just want to be sure that nobody missinterpret this.
but, btw. the genera Paraphrynus and Phrynus are in my opinion at least 4 different ones and not only 2

Phrynus · Mar 27, 2015

Very Interesting!
So Phrynus, Paraphrynus, Tertiariophrynus, and Quadrophrynus, lol

What differences will divide the genuses?

Pb

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