Found this little guy last night. Curious what he is? He’s super small, I have an Aphonopelma Mareki, but he has tan on his carapace, this guy was completely black. I’m thinking it’s a Mareki, but curious if anyone else thinks something different? I’m in southern AZ, 30 minutes north of Tucson.
It'll be difficult to ID this guy from a photo. You can review the genus revision to see if there are any identifying characteristics that jump out, but it often requires examination of a decreased specimen with a microscope. I can say 2 things, though: he's not really smaller than MM's of many Aphonopelma species (I have an MM A. moderatum that's smaller than this one); and if he's south of Phoenix, he's not A. mareki (they are distributed north of the Phoenix metro area).
This systematic study documents the taxonomy, diversity, and distribution of the tarantula spider genus Aphonopelma Pocock, 1901 within the United States. By employing phylogenomic, morphological, and geospatial data, we evaluated all 55 nominal species in the United States to examine the...
It'll be difficult to ID this guy from a photo. You can review the genus revision to see if there are any identifying characteristics that jump out, but it often requires examination of a decreased specimen with a microscope. I can say 2 things, though: he's not really smaller than MM's of many Aphonopelma species (I have an MM A. moderatum that's smaller than this one); and if he's south of Phoenix, he's not A. mareki (they are distributed north of the Phoenix metro area).
This systematic study documents the taxonomy, diversity, and distribution of the tarantula spider genus Aphonopelma Pocock, 1901 within the United States. By employing phylogenomic, morphological, and geospatial data, we evaluated all 55 nominal species in the United States to examine the...
I think the AZ key in the revision points to A. paloma (smaller species found in desert/grassland habitats, slightly swollen femur on leg III, distributed in lower elevations of the Sonoran desert in southern AZ). The only thing I can't tell very well from the photos is if the femur on leg III is swollen (he only has 1, and the shadows make it tricky), but if it is, I think that's the winner. Compare to the MM photos here:
Aphonopelma paloma, or the Paloma dwarf, is a species of spider belonging to the family Theraphosidae. With a leg span that hovers around 5 cm, it is by far the smallest known theraphosid. (Source: Wikipedia, '', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphonopelma_paloma, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) Chris A...
I think the AZ key in the revision points to A. paloma (smaller species found in desert/grassland habitats, slightly swollen femur on leg III, distributed in lower elevations of the Sonoran desert in southern AZ). The only thing I can't tell very well from the photos is if the femur on leg III is swollen (he only has 1, and the shadows make it tricky), but if it is, I think that's the winner. Compare to the MM photos here:
Aphonopelma paloma, or the Paloma dwarf, is a species of spider belonging to the family Theraphosidae. With a leg span that hovers around 5 cm, it is by far the smallest known theraphosid. (Source: Wikipedia, '', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphonopelma_paloma, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) Chris A...
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