The curious case of my Philippine Tangerine.

Frazam

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Oct 25, 2018
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Ok, so I got myself a couple of Philippine Tangerines (Orphnaecus philippinus). Sacmates and captive bred. Here is a photo of one:
IMG_20190118_102036.jpg

Now, its sibling molted last Monday. Here is its exuvia:
received_312925032901420.jpeg

So far so good? Here is the newly molted one (five days since molt) :

IMG_20190118_103637.jpg

It's now gray and black. What happened here? Anyone here familiar with this species tell me what's up?
 

BoyFromLA

Spoon feeder
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Oct 26, 2017
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To me, that does not look like Orphnaecus philippinus at all. Second picture that is.

Below is my sling.

88FFC4CD-E36E-47EE-9C25-15975AC81435.jpeg
 
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Frazam

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That's just it. It looked like that before it molted. The first photo is a pic of its sacmate. I wasn't able to take a photo before it molted though, but it was the same.
 
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Frazam

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I have a strong feeling they might have been mislabeled. Still, I'd like to know what they are. Is there a species that starts out orangey then after a certain size, turns gray/black?
 

Nightstalker47

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Yeah, that looks like another species to me as well. O.philippinus should become more and more orange as they grow.
 

Frazam

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It's not an O. philippinus now that's for sure haha. Now I'm curious what it is.
 

Frazam

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Yeah, it dug a ton and webs even more. But the mystery has been solved.

Apparently, the breeder inadvertently put two sacs together. An O. Philippinus and an unknown species from iloilo in the Philippines. The unknown species has an orangey color when young, but molts out of it when it reaches a certain size. So when the phillipinus were sold, orders had a mix of both. Only when the unknown species molted out of the orange stage did other buyers express concern.

I had my specimen ID'd by local experts and was told that there was indeed an unknown species (called it sp. Iloilo) that was orangey when young, especially when nearing a molt.

So there you have it. Case closed. ☺

Oh, here's a pic of its webbing and tunnels. The bigger was hanging out near the lid so I couldn't open it.
 

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