# P.Regalis Male vs Female



## Shaka (Feb 17, 2012)

Hi there!

Can I please ask for opinions and possibly pics to help me out here. A few days ago my P.regalis molted to a leg span of 16.5cm (6.5 inches), I took the exuvium and sexed it under a 10x Magnifying glass, I saw NO spermathecae... so I was pretty darn sure - it was male.

However, when I posted a pic of the newly molted beauty, the pokie gurus in my area all exclaimed "FEMALE"... ??? So I took a few more pics which I have added to this post, which confused everyone! Now half of them say female, and half of them say male, and the rest are just stumped...

At this size, I am pretty sure spermathecae would be well in place and pretty darn easy to spot with the naked eye... if this T had no spermathecae and is yet to develop them, this T is going to be ENORMOUS by the time it matures...

Please tell me what all of you think.










thx in advance

Shaka

Reactions: Informative 1


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## hamhock 74 (Feb 17, 2012)

Do you have pictures of the molt itself or a ventral shot of the P. regalis? Both would help greatly in confirming the sex of your T in conjuction with the dorsal shots you've posted above.


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## Shaka (Feb 17, 2012)

Here you go, the only one I have right now. Will try get a closer pic of the ventral area asap.


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## jayefbe (Feb 17, 2012)

Post a ventral shot. Pokies are pretty simple to sex via epiandrous fusillae.

Edit - NM, looks like you put one up. A close up shot of the vent would be better, but it looks like a girl.


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## xhexdx (Feb 17, 2012)

There's no question, that's female.


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## Shaka (Feb 17, 2012)

xhexdx... I have been following your threads for ages and have a lot of respect for you, so please don't think I doubt your opinion, but can you please explain why you think so? 

Like I said I could not see any spermathecae, are they still going to develop? I am very limited in my knowledge of pokies so the more you can tell me the better.


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## BrettG (Feb 17, 2012)

Female.These things are VERY easy to ventrally sex.


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## grayzone (Feb 17, 2012)

i would 3rd female... for one, the size (imo that would be mature were it male), ventrally sexing (no "belly button" indicating male), and then the white dorsal stripe on its abdomen..... all 3 of these things , separately, mean nothin...as sexing via molt is ONLY accurate way to tell. with all 3 signs pointing to female, that's what id place my bet on:wink:

Reactions: Like 2


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## Shaka (Dec 8, 2012)

Really sorry to bring this old post up, but the answer has arrived. This T molted today, and it's a 19cm P.regalis Mature Male.... Many of the experienced collectors down here got it wrong too. This male is pretty big man..

Was sooo hoping XHEXDX and others that voted female - were right. Alas, yet another male to my sausage saloon... Both my P.miranda turned male, both my P.regalis turned male, both my C.cyaneopubescens male... Eish.

Shaka.

Reactions: Informative 2


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## grayzone (Dec 8, 2012)

wow. 
all i can say.

---------- Post added 12-08-2012 at 07:38 AM ----------

Thanks for bringin this back and putting an end to the question.. that is crazy

Reactions: Disagree 1


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## freedumbdclxvi (Dec 8, 2012)

Honestly, this is why I never really trust trying to sex ventrally.


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## grayzone (Dec 8, 2012)

me either... well, not 100% at least. I assumed female 10 months ago when this thread was started for MULTIPLE reasons. It has all the characteristics (size was a factor at that time too) of a female, but in shaka's case all 3 or 4 were lies


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## hamhock 74 (Dec 8, 2012)

Nice, get that big boy out there and spread those genes around!


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## Tarac (Dec 10, 2012)

grayzone said:


> me either... well, not 100% at least. I assumed female 10 months ago when this thread was started for MULTIPLE reasons. It has all the characteristics (size was a factor at that time too) of a female, but in shaka's case all 3 or 4 were lies


Yeah- I'm confused about dorsal sexing now as I would've assumed at that lightness it would be female too.  Guess that's why molts are the only way to go for sure.  It is nice when folks are diligent about updates

Reactions: Face Palm 1


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## grayzone (Dec 10, 2012)

That t definitely had some cool coloring. The light coloration makes you assume female, however it DID have the brown/earth tone coloration of a male.  

duuude looks like a lady  (sorry for the aerosmith reference)

anyways, i think Shaka needs to update this thread with pics of the now MM


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## newspidermom (Dec 10, 2012)

So are all pokies fairly easy to sex ventrally or thru physical characteristics?  I know sexing thru molt is the sure way but I didn't know these guys were as easy to sex ventrally as you make it sound.  I have 3 P. ornata sings and it would be great to be able to look for certain M vs F characteristics when they get bigger if I can. The ornatas are my first pokies!


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## Tarac (Dec 11, 2012)

grayzone said:


> That t definitely had some cool coloring. The light coloration makes you assume female, however it DID have the brown/earth tone coloration of a male.


You are right, especially noticeable in the second pic.  The folio just appears to faint already, I figured the color might be a trick of the camera or something.

---------- Post added 12-11-2012 at 08:17 AM ----------




newspidermom said:


> So are all pokies fairly easy to sex ventrally or thru physical characteristics?  I know sexing thru molt is the sure way but I didn't know these guys were as easy to sex ventrally as you make it sound.  I have 3 P. ornata sings and it would be great to be able to look for certain M vs F characteristics when they get bigger if I can. The ornatas are my first pokies!


Supposedly you can sex them both ventrally and dorsally.  The epiandrous fusillae are fairly visible on Pokies for whatever reason, I've sexed mine accurately this way BUT I do always just do it to guess because, let's face it... waiting for gender determination on a new spider can be grueling sometimes for the impatient.  And it's kind of a fun game to hone your skills- to see if you can and how accurately.  However I always confirm via molt anyway, it's the only sure fire way to know.  

So far ventral sexing works for me usually (on Pokies, most others I cannot even hazard a guess) except the occasional ambiguous case of not being sure if it's male because you can't make anything out (which can happen with a molt too- not seeing anything between the book lungs doesn't mean male all the time, it sometimes means you just can't make anything out for any number of reasons, namely using a really tiny molt of a very young spider in my case).  Usually on Pokies you can see if it's male though, IMO.  Note that personally I would want a much much closer picture of the epigastric furrow region to make that determination, I personally would not make a determination on a photo as far away as the one on this thread.  There are web pages about this approach, I think Rick West has a good one if you Google it.

My guess here would've been based on the folio lightness I mentioned, the value relative to the rest of the body.  Clearly would've guessed wrong.  Some people can do it from this character apparently.

Dorsal sexing can sometimes be done via the patterns on the folio and coloration, etc. as they are dimorphic earlier than a lot of other species but obviously I am not very good at that as I would've guessed the spider in this thread was female too like the other users.  There is a thread somewhere that illustrates the differences, maybe someone else knows where and can post a link.  I still rely on molts regardless of how confident I am about my guess from other methods.  This particular male demonstrates precisely why, no matter how confident your "other method" is, one should always collect molts and confirm.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## Gervin (Oct 6, 2019)

Shaka said:


> Hi there!
> 
> Can I please ask for opinions and possibly pics to help me out here. A few days ago my P.regalis molted to a leg span of 16.5cm (6.5 inches), I took the exuvium and sexed it under a 10x Magnifying glass, I saw NO spermathecae... so I was pretty darn sure - it was male.
> 
> ...


I have same problem may p.regalis' molt doesnt have spermathecae but they said it was female


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## Ungoliant (Oct 7, 2019)

Requests to identify (or confirm) a tarantula's sex must be posted to the appropriate gallery.  Please see this thread for instructions: How to Request Species or Sex Identification.


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