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Here are two pictures of the exact same mature female Aphonopelma sp. collected from south central Texas, near Austin, showing an extreme color difference in the same specimen. The picture where it has a brown coloration was taken in 2005. The black coloration appeared about two weeks ago after it's last molt. This spider has molted many times in the 10 years I have had it and retained the same brown coloration, but this last one it came out black with some dark olive coloration on the carapace. Not only do I find the extreme color difference fascinating, but it also serves the purpose of illustrating that color and pictures can not be used to tell one species from another.
Although I do not know what species it is exactly, I can tell you for sure that it is not Aphonopelma hentzi. The spermatheca morphology is very different and appears to be more closely related to A. anax.
I realize these pictures are not the best, but I recently rehoused it and I needed to get a new picture taken and up here before the spider reburies itself and I don't see it for another several years. The first picture was taken with a Canon PowerShot (2005 model of some sort) and the second one was taken today with an iPhone 5s. This is why the pictures are so different (aside from the subject).
Although I do not know what species it is exactly, I can tell you for sure that it is not Aphonopelma hentzi. The spermatheca morphology is very different and appears to be more closely related to A. anax.
I realize these pictures are not the best, but I recently rehoused it and I needed to get a new picture taken and up here before the spider reburies itself and I don't see it for another several years. The first picture was taken with a Canon PowerShot (2005 model of some sort) and the second one was taken today with an iPhone 5s. This is why the pictures are so different (aside from the subject).
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