# 'African Red' Trapdoor Spider



## lhystrix (Nov 4, 2007)

Ctenolophus sp.

Not Gorgyrella sp. as often labeled.

Images of a large adult female with MM marks, immature male with MM marks, and epiandrous fusillae (female followed by immature male, both equal in size, female not pictured).

The white nodules on coxa of male are mites, which are sometimes found on wild caught specimens, or transmitted from wholesalers/dealers with poor maintenance techniques. The mites can be gently scraped loose and rinsed off.


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## Vietnamese510 (Nov 5, 2007)

hehe 

others those 2 diff species?

mine looks like the First one beacuse of the abdomen marks


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## 8+) (Nov 5, 2007)

jeff h said:


> Ctenolophus sp.
> 
> Not Gorgyrella sp. as often labeled.


How do you differentiate these from Gorgyrella, or Idiops.



> Images of a large adult female with MM marks, immature male with MM marks, and epiandrous fusillae (female followed by immature male, both equal in size, female not pictured).


Thanks for those! I imagine these can be generalized for other traps?



> The white nodules on coxa of male are mites, which are sometimes found on wild caught specimens, or transmitted from wholesalers/dealers with poor maintenance techniques. The mites can be gently scraped loose and rinsed off.


That sounds like a fun task!!! I can't imagine you do that...


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## lhystrix (Nov 5, 2007)

*Hi*

Vietnamese510. Yes, they are all the same species in images above.


Ctenolophus are easily distinguished from the other African Idiopids by the presence of an inner row of large teeth on the cheliceral furrow, with the outer row greatly reduced. Two equal rows are present in Idiops.
Another difference is two pairs of sigilla in Ctenolophus as opposed to three, a trait of Gorgyrella.  

The fusillae images are good for the African Reds, but not sure about other traps.

Except for fusillae sexing, these diagnostic traits and others are from *Baboon and Trapdoor Spiders of Southern Africa: An Identification Manual* by A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman.


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## Vietnamese510 (Nov 5, 2007)

*hey*

jeff h, where i got it from said it was a S. Robertsi
i dont know if that is the same as the ones you have?

do youi know the life span of these ones?


oh yes how come one is more redder than the other?


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## 8+) (Nov 6, 2007)

You'd need a much better pic of yours to discern the eye arrangement and the cheliceral teeth.

jeff h what are the "sigilla"?


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## lhystrix (Nov 6, 2007)

8+) said:


> jeff h what are the "sigilla"?


Sigilla are points of endoskeleton and muscle attachments that have a dimple like appearence.
Gorgyrella have a third, larger pair, as seen in the Ancylotrypa image.


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## lhystrix (Nov 6, 2007)

Vietnamese510 said:


> jeff h, where i got it from said it was a S. Robertsi
> i dont know if that is the same as the ones you have?
> 
> do youi know the life span of these ones?
> ...


S. robertsi is a Ctenizid trapdoor spider, which yours is not. Yours looks like a typical Idiopid African red trapdoor to me, and appears to be the same as mine.

I don't know the average lifespan.

Some individuals are lighter or darker than others.


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## Vietnamese510 (Nov 6, 2007)

*my*

trapdoor is like about a good 2 inches from abdo to fangs is that the biggest it will get or did it reach matureity yet?


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## lhystrix (Nov 9, 2007)

Vietnamese510 said:


> trapdoor is like about a good 2 inches from abdo to fangs is that the biggest it will get or did it reach matureity yet?


Based on image and size, I'm going with female.
It may very well be sexually mature, but unlike males, females will continue to molt after sexual maturity. So she will get larger with each molt, but at that size it will probably be more noticeable in the thickness of the legs and carapace length/width.
Sometimes later instars don't appear any larger than their cast skin at first glance.


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## Tunedbeat (Nov 10, 2007)

Jeff Hollenback from BG? 
If so, i wonder if Jay Barnes has on account here.


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## Vietnamese510 (Nov 10, 2007)

*l*

do they molt in the hole or outisde?


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## EDED (Jun 5, 2008)

very informative, good job on the ID work.

how did i miss this thread, i should read true spider section more often.


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