Avicularia urticans vs Avicularia sp. "Peru Purple"

[Fyrwulf]

Want me to throw even more fuel into the fire? Your sp. "Amazonica" CEC, has white-tipped toes - not pink. Mine (and all those I've seen here so far from friends / breeders) are pink, not white in the least

It is like Chad and Steve and many, many others say: It's next to impossible to ID an Avic (with very few, distinct exceptions) by picture and until Fukushima's revision is published, I personally prefer to add the place of origin to the species in my records. That way, I have at least some form of tracking, despite the name it was bought as.

Is Dr. Fukushima doing a top-to-bottom revision? Some of the really old descriptions are so bad that an amateur hobbyist without a college education could do an exponentially better job.

 

[Storm76]

Is Dr. Fukushima doing a top-to-bottom revision? Some of the really old descriptions are so bad that an amateur hobbyist without a college education could do an exponentially better job.

She's working on the "genus" Avicularia, meaning all species included therein. Afterwards we'll probably find a good bunch in a new genus or moved to other existing genera...

 

[Fyrwulf]

She's working on the "genus" Avicularia, meaning all species included therein. Afterwards we'll probably find a good bunch in a new genus or moved to other existing genera...

Yeah, after I posted that I went and found a Reader's Digest version. Link

What's interesting in that is that A. geroldi and A. metallica will no longer be considered valid, which can only mean they'll be junior synonyms. It's going to have to be two of the very old and poorly described species, though, because from the pictures I've seen nothing else in Avicularia looks like geroldi or metallica at any phase.

 

[Akai]

every thread i've read on the taxonomy of Avics has me more confused then ever, this one included. the only one i know for certain are Versicolors. this reason alone i don't buy Avics anymore much less breed them. heck i question my A. metallicas after seeing another Avic taxonomy thread. oh well....

 

[Fyrwulf]

every thread i've read on the taxonomy of Avics has me more confused then ever, this one included. the only one i know for certain are Versicolors. this reason alone i don't buy Avics anymore much less breed them. heck i question my A. metallicas after seeing another Avic taxonomy thread. oh well....

Honestly, part of the problem is that people in the arachnid hobby seem to treat "hobby described" species as valid, rather than with the healthy skepticism such descriptions deserve. You don't see that in herpetoculture, for example. I would personally take the stance that if it hasn't been described in a peer reviewed journal it isn't a valid new species, unless you personally know a scientist who is in the process of writing such a paper. At the very least contact the guy who runs Bird Spiders and get an opinion, as he seems to be arachnoculture's version of Wolfgang Wuster.

The A. urticans vs Peru Purple thing is a great example. They both come from Peru. They both look very similar. They even have similar common names. If it looks like a duck, walks like a ducks, and quacks like a duck...

 

[edesign]

This one is the same size as yours. It just molted last night. I'll have a new pic up in this thread in a few days. It is maybe 2" now

Heres something interesting.

Original/European urticans:
http://www.geocities.ws/Pentagon/1096/vogelspinnen/avicularia_urticans.html

American urticans/Peru Purple/European Amazonas purple:
http://www.birdspiders.com/gallery/index.php/Tarantulas/birdspiders_0849

So, I hate to necro an old post but for confusion's sake, to keep up with changes (simplifies the life of those who read old threads while searching for info), and those just browsing through the birdspiders.com link description has changed. It is now labeled "Avicularia juruensis Mello-Leitao 1923, female, color variant from s. Ecuador and ne. Peru" due to the very recent Avicularia revision published by Fukushima. A. urticans is now a junior synonym of A. juruensis. Fyrewolf mentions this possible upcoming revision in post #41 and Storm clarifies in post #42. Two and a half years later it is published Although, from what I understand, this work has been in the works for MUCH longer than that.

I found this post very informative, thanks to everyone who contributed. Dug it up while looking for information about a supposed A. sp. "Amazonica" that I bought (it was labeled A. amazonica) earlier today.