An Example of Extreme Color Differences in an Aphonopelma sp.

AphonopelmaTX

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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).
 

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viper69

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I don't own your T, and I believe you. However, the fact that each image was taken with a different camera (different sensor chip), does not necessarily mean the color would be different.

If you only posted the images w/out mentioning color change in real life, I would chalk this up to different cameras. Digital cameras, and the software embedded in them to generate color, vary so greatly as anyone familiar with dig photography knows.

It takes very little for many Ts to look different even with the same lighting and camera. Their natural iridescence makes taking pics of them fun, but truly not reliable as a means of ID alone.

This was a good thing to up.
 

AphonopelmaTX

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I don't own your T, and I believe you. However, the fact that each image was taken with a different camera (different sensor chip), does not necessarily mean the color would be different.

If you only posted the images w/out mentioning color change in real life, I would chalk this up to different cameras. Digital cameras, and the software embedded in them to generate color, vary so greatly as anyone familiar with dig photography knows.

It takes very little for many Ts to look different even with the same lighting and camera. Their natural iridescence makes taking pics of them fun, but truly not reliable as a means of ID alone.

This was a good thing to up.
I'm definitely going to revisit this thread when I have better pictures. I wanted to get something quick and dirty up to show the variance in color a single species can have, even in the same individual.
 

awiec

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While my comment will add nothing scientific to the discussion, I will say that while that spider is not a flashy blue, the subtle highlights and slight color variation makes it very pleasing to my eyes. Another aspect when trying to describe colors to people is that we all see differently. I know I see colors a bit more intense then my step father does and we argue about colors all the time, just another food for thought when you try to rely on color solely to distinguish spiders.
 
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