Yes, I think it is a male also (hooks on front legs and enlarged pedipalps. I had been told it was possibly a Desert Blonde, but when I look at pictures of Aphonopelma chalcodes on these forums they seem to have lighter colors, esp. on the legs. This is the first tarantula I've kept as a pet, so have no prior knowledge of species types and variations in colors, etc. Heading to the library later today to see what I can learn there.
This one was w/c...about 20 miles NE of Apache Junction, which is a suburb of Phoenix, AZ.
It's definitely a A. chalcodes if you found it around Phoenix. And it's definitely a male if if has hooks. As for the colors, when the males reach sexual maturity (3-5 years) the colors change to the one in your picture. They then go out wandering looking for females to mate with. Unfortunatly once they go out looking for mates they die within about 2 months. I've heard reports of females live up to 25 years. The coloration of the females is mostly shades of tan with black on the feet and upper legs.
As for the common name, I've heard Desert Blonde, Tucson Blonde, Arizona Blonde and Phoenix Blonde.
20 miles NE of AJ should be around the Roosevelt lake area. I'm up in the I-17 and Carefree Highway area. Just a bunch of Desert Hairy Scorpions by me.
it's aphonopelma. come on, you guys know that there is no real way to distinguish what species it is specifically, could be any number of things, a lot of aphonopelma males look the same.
so it's definitely an aphonopelma sp. but don't jump to conclusions too fast.
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