OMG need species ID! Unknown mygalomorph actually adult female!!!

M

MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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I'm sure that some of you remember that I found my first mygalomorphid earlier this week. Some of you even guessed the genus and that it was a juvenile. Well, I had a baseless hunch that it was an adult, which has now been comfirmed. I think that this is exciting because it may turn out to be an undescribed species.. :drool:

Anyways, I returned to the area today and found another specimen with an eggsac!!! I think it is slightly larger, but I haven't made a side-by-side comparison. Here is a [bad] photo:



The webs were long, complex tubes, but I don't know how they use them yet. The other one that I caught hasn't made a complete tunnel system yet. Since it was dusktime no habitat shots, sorry. ;)

So, gentlemen, it seems we have quite a canundrum. I'm going to try and look for the cuspules on my other one tomorrow, if I have the heart to dig it out of its new home. I can't look at this one because it is holding the eggsac. :?
 
Randolph XX()

Randolph XX()

Arachnoprince
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....never disturb females with egg sacs, unless u want to hatch them urself

chances are high that the egg sac would get eaten by the mom
 
M

MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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I found it with the sac and tried to verify if it was the same species. Then I prepared a small round container for it with several centimetres of substrate and created a downwards-sloping burrow for it and spread some pine needles and pieces of pine cone on the surface to simulate where I found it and it immediately took to the hole and since yesterday has put up webbing all over the place and the sac is still looking good. :D

And yes, I plan on hatching it and keeping some of the spiderlings. :cool:

I'll post more photos when the webbing is more prominent and it's out and about.
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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This is the new enclosure that I prepared for my adult female with the eggsac last night:







As you can see, she has blocked herself in.



Today I just moved the first one that I found, also probably a female, into its new enclosure and it immediately darted into the hole.





When I came back it had set up shoppe.

On both enclosures I attached some broken pieces of toothpick to keep the lid SLIGHTLY open on the inside (It closes in a very airtight way).

 
M

MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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Some questions:

1) Should I add a bottletop with water in it to the enclosures? I mist once or twice daily to keep the substrate moist, but not wet. So far, it has worked several weeks for the centipedes and they are feeding and healthy.

2) How long will it take for the eggsac to hatch and what should I do? Can I let them cannibalise a little bit and weed out the weak or release most and keep several. The goal here is to breed them in captivity in the future.

3) How long can I expect the life expectancy to be so that I can plan around their lifecycle. These are fairly small and already adult.

4) Can I raise a colony of isopods to feed them?

Thanks in advance and I'll take some photos when the one without the eggsac has webbed up the place and is ready for feeding. Tomorrow night I'm going out with several mates of mine so keep your fingers crossed for more interesting things. :cool:
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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Since my last update the spider has yet again relocated. It seems like they don't like burrows so much. It constructed a tube using web and dirt with an exit at both ends.

I had been putting flies in every day and I thought that they kept escaping. Today when I put in a fly I discovered the grisly truth. The fly got SLIGHTLY entangled in its web and the spider emerged like a bat out of hell, a wicked speed-demon, seized the fly, and dragged it back to its lair as quick as it had come out.



In this photo you can see the spider and the compound eyes of its prey if you look closely. It really doesn't do it any justice, though.







In conclusion, although I don't know what species it is yet, I am definitely going to breed these. They are a very cool little mygalomorphid.

The other one is still guarding its eggsac, which has grown a lot. I think it may be another week before it hatches. ;)
 
syndicate

syndicate

Arachnoemperor
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best luck with your eggsack!looks like a really interesting species you got there!whatever it may be :]

1.i think misting will be fine and if its worked for you this long no need to change it.
2.unsure how long it will take for the eggs to hatch but ive read that some of the trapdoors and other mygals will often keep there young in the burrow with them for a while after hatching and tend to there young.how long this gos on i do not know.it would be an interesting experiment to leave alot of the sac with mom and see if she feeds them.im guessing the spiderlings are gonna be micro to!
3.no idea
4.i dont see why not.also small wingless fruit flys or pinhead crickets may work aswell.

look forward to more photos!keep us posted
thanks

-Chris

MaartenSFS said:
Some questions:

1) Should I add a bottletop with water in it to the enclosures? I mist once or twice daily to keep the substrate moist, but not wet. So far, it has worked several weeks for the centipedes and they are feeding and healthy.

2) How long will it take for the eggsac to hatch and what should I do? Can I let them cannibalise a little bit and weed out the weak or release most and keep several. The goal here is to breed them in captivity in the future.

3) How long can I expect the life expectancy to be so that I can plan around their lifecycle. These are fairly small and already adult.

4) Can I raise a colony of isopods to feed them?

Thanks in advance and I'll take some photos when the one without the eggsac has webbed up the place and is ready for feeding. Tomorrow night I'm going out with several mates of mine so keep your fingers crossed for more interesting things. :cool:
Click to expand...
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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syndicate said:
best luck with your eggsack!looks like a really interesting species you got there!whatever it may be :]

1.i think misting will be fine and if its worked for you this long no need to change it.
2.unsure how long it will take for the eggs to hatch but ive read that some of the trapdoors and other mygals will often keep there young in the burrow with them for a while after hatching and tend to there young.how long this gos on i do not know.it would be an interesting experiment to leave alot of the sac with mom and see if she feeds them.im guessing the spiderlings are gonna be micro to!
3.no idea
4.i dont see why not.also small wingless fruit flys or pinhead crickets may work aswell.

look forward to more photos!keep us posted
thanks

-Chris
Click to expand...
That's a very interesting point about the burrow. I hope that this is the case, because crickets and fruitlies are unavailable here. I may have to go out and catch crickets to breed. :eek: :wall: I hope that the mother will save me the trouble. The problem with breeding house flies is that they well... fly. Thanks for your insight. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, the spider has now closed off the tube on the other side. It's kind of interesting to watch how it has been constructing every night.
 
W

What

Arachnoprince
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Maarten, look into getting a roach colony going. That would probably best suit your needs.
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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Cockroaches are the perfect size for my centipedes, but this is our first apartment in China that is not infested! :wall:
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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The sac is looking mighty bloated these days! I dare say the time is nigh! :eek:
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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This one from Dipluridae.de looks REMARKABLY similar to mine, except for the colouration:

For side-by-side comparison mine:

Especially the spinnerets are identical. Other Diplurids also bear quite a resemblance, though there hasn't been much study on them. What do you think?
 
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M

MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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Oke, so I've noticed some interesting behaviour.

1) The spider has sealed off both ends of the tube and when a fly walks through the trigger webs, even 6 or 7 centimetres from the centre of its "burrow" it opens a hole on either side of the tube and flies out, grabs it, drags it back, and begins to close the hole again with its spinnerets - all in a second or two (Depending on how far away the prey was). It's absobloodylutely awesome and especially the way it opens and closes the hole is almost graceful.

2) Any time prey is introduced, day or night, even with frequency, it comes out and pleases. I have shown many friends already and they were all very impressed.

3) It seems to never come out, except to hunt, but somehow manages to web up the whole enclosure. I think it sticks its arse out and just sprays, honestly. This is a "pet hole", but a very satisfying one and easy to take care of. It can also venture quite far out of its hole to attack prey, which means that you get to see it longer, sometimes.

I had a pretty good look at it today and I think that this one has a body length of 1.2-1.5cm, but the other one with the eggsac is a lot bigger than this. We're going out to a nature reserve this weekend so I'll see if I can get my hands on some more and get a good ventral shot.

Question: Do I ever need to destroy its tube and take out dead insects that it has consumed?
 
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venwu225

Arachnopeon
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it seems in terms of hygiene you should most likely remove the debris. Look carefully around the cage, judging from the one species of dipluridae I worked with, generally they tend to leave the feeding casts at particular spots on the web. It did not leave feeding casts within the burrow.

Could you post more photos :D??!

and especially of the natural habitat at which you found the animals at??
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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Look in the fieldtrips section. I have posted two photo essays titled Yaoshan Excursion 1 and 2. ;)
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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So the eggsac hatched and I've got about 30 spiderlings that came out. I separated the mother into another container because she looked quite thin and I herded the spiderlings together and killed a baby cockroach and put it on their web after a day. It looks like they haven't eaten it yet, but they are growing?

Anyways, it gave me an opportunity to finally photograph the ventral side of this species:



I know it's not a clear photo, but any thoughts?

Here is a size reference for the mother:



The other female moulted after I caught it and is larger and more robust than this one.
 
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MaartenSFS

Arachnobaron
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Here are some new photos in celebration of my finding out what genus this spider belongs to:





Macrothele species..

A special thanks goes out to jeff h. :worship:
 
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