# the elusive arizona red moustache'd trapdoor spider



## josh_r (May 16, 2008)

i have never seen a trapdoor spider like this before. she was found in high elevation pine forest and she had babies with her. i left most of the babies to grow up and continue to populate the area. anyone else ever see anything like this before??

























the babies are orange with a slight chevron marking on the abdomen. you can barely see it in this pic.







-josh


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## Pulk (May 16, 2008)

sounds like a new species. name it after an irrelevant musician


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## josh_r (May 16, 2008)

DUDE! your a genius!! i think ill name it.....  hebestatus richardcheesei  or....  bothriocyrtum tinaturneri............. what if its an Ummidia.... Ummidia jackjohnsoni


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## MaartenSFS (May 16, 2008)

Wouw, that's awesome. :worship: How big is it? The spiders I have found here seem to prefer pine as well. Have you kept local trapdoors before? Is their taking of prey as impressive as, say, the ones I've seen from Africa on Youtube?

O, and how in the bloody hell did you find it??? I have been looking EVERYWHERE with no results (Though I have probably found Macrothele or possibly Dipluridae)!

I honestly think that these are the coolest spiders!


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## josh_r (May 16, 2008)

sometimes you get lucky and spot a trapdoor but most of the time, you just luck upon them. this particular individual i exposed her burrow that was next to a rock. they always seem to have perfectly round burrows with white silk lining them..... that is our natives anyways.

these guys can take down prey items their size or larger. its very impressive. i have kept many local trapdoor spiders. this one is one of the coolest ive found so far.... this one and a jet black species with a blue/gray abdomen. there is a noticeable blue to the abdomen. i believe it is an Ummidia of some sort. ive also found aliatypus here as well as a red legged thing with chevrons on the abdomen. i have no clue what it is. i have also found what i believe is inland populations of bothriocyrtum californicum thriving in the sonoran desert.


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## MaartenSFS (May 16, 2008)

Wouw, so it's going to be difficult. I'm glad to hear that it will be worth the work to find one, though, because there's no way I'm giving up.


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## What (May 16, 2008)

Josh, can you grab some pics of leg IV?

That might help with the ID a bit.

A ventral pic would also be nice.


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## josh_r (May 16, 2008)

What said:


> Josh, can you grab some pics of leg IV?
> 
> That might help with the ID a bit.
> 
> A ventral pic would also be nice.


if i can ever get her out of her burrow, i will. she is very stubborn. i have plenty of babies so ill eventually be able to get a shot. what i found very strange about this spider is it looks very similar to bothriocyrtum, but it doesnt make a cork type lid. it makes a thin wafer lid.


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## What (May 16, 2008)

Be fore warned, the babies might take 10 years or more to mature... 

I have had my B. cali slings for almost a year now with no molts. 

Edit: Is the wafer door the one it made when you housed it? Or did it have one when you found it? Bothriocyrtum seem to take a long while to build up the 'cork' door.


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## 357wheelgunner (May 16, 2008)

josh_r said:


> DUDE! your a genius!! i think ill name it.....  hebestatus richardcheesei  or....  bothriocyrtum tinaturneri............. what if its an Ummidia.... Ummidia jackjohnsoni


Name it after this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU


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## lhystrix (May 16, 2008)

Awesome spiders, Josh. 

Take a close look at tibia three. Looks like Ummidia to me. That might also explain the wafer door. 50 species and only 10 described according to SNA.


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## josh_r (May 16, 2008)

What said:


> Be fore warned, the babies might take 10 years or more to mature...
> 
> I have had my B. cali slings for almost a year now with no molts.
> 
> Edit: Is the wafer door the one it made when you housed it? Or did it have one when you found it? Bothriocyrtum seem to take a long while to build up the 'cork' door.



the original trapdoor that she has had for years is a wafer lid. you can tell she has had the same lid for years because of the rings from old smaller lids behind it. definitely a wafer lid. 

i am thinking ummidia as well. i have found 5 completely different species of trapdoor spiders in AZ so far... i expect there are more. this one and one otehr that is jet black with a true blue gray abdomen are the coolest ones yet! i think the blue bottomed one is ummidia as well. only thing is the blue bottoms makes a nice thick cork door. 

-josh


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## lhystrix (May 16, 2008)

josh_r said:


> i am thinking ummidia as well. i have found 5 completely different species of trapdoor spiders in AZ so far... i expect there are more. this one and one otehr that is jet black with a true blue gray abdomen are the coolest ones yet! i think the blue bottomed one is ummidia as well. only thing is the blue bottoms makes a nice thick cork door.
> 
> -josh


The dorsal depression on tibia 3 seems to be key to Ummidia. Hopefully Brent will chime in.

Also, there is sometimes significant door variation (no doors, wafer lids, cork lids, and burrow plugs, all found in Ancylotrypa, for example) between species in a genus, so the type of door might be irrelevant when dealing with Ummidia.


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## josh_r (May 16, 2008)

very interesting. i hope we can find out what this thing is. its really cool!


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## lhystrix (Jun 22, 2008)

An Ummidia, BL 20mm, CL 7mm. Much of the red around the rastellum seems to have rubbed off, probably due to recent excavation.

Note dorsal saddle on tibia 3, and cephalic region elevated posterior to eyes.


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## DreadLobster (Jun 23, 2008)

HA! Richard Cheese... didn't see that one coming.


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## josh_r (Jun 23, 2008)

very nice shots jeff. she is fat man! was she that fat when i sent her to you????


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## lhystrix (Jun 26, 2008)

josh_r said:


> very nice shots jeff. she is fat man! was she that fat when i sent her to you????


Not quite so fat. I put her on a seed fed cricket binge!



DreadLobster said:


> HA! Richard Cheese... didn't see that one coming.


Who is Dick Cheese? I don't get it.


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## josh_r (Jun 26, 2008)

DreadLobster said:


> HA! Richard Cheese... didn't see that one coming.



i didnt get this either.... what does lounge music have to do with a trapdoor spider???? :?


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## crpy (Jun 26, 2008)

wow, talk about going over your head,lmao


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