I bought this T a couple weeks ago at Petco as a "True Zebra" Tarantula. I think it could be the Nicaraguan brown color morph of Aphonopelma seemani. It bolts when startled. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi everyone, matthewfaske here again. I want to correct my typo: Aphonopelma seemanni. I think that the regular color form of seemannis have orange spinnerets dont they? Also, the spider most definitely has urticating hairs, with a bald patch on the abdomen that is not seen in the photo. If this is a seemanni, will it ever molt into the black and white colors? This specimen is a little smaller than a sub adult should be but much larger than a sling (about a 2.75 inch legspan) Thanks for looking!
No it will never moult into regular A.seemanni as its not that species. Its another closely related Aphonopelma sp. from central america. I cant believe that someone would go to the trouble to name it "true zebra", which i assume they mean "true Aphonopelma seemanni" when its clearly not that species.
These species and A.seemanni often fade out in colour before a moult, but i bet you $1 that after moult it becomes grayish with thin legstripes, not black with broad white leg stripes. Personally, you should get whoever sold it to you to justify on here why they think its "true zebra". I totally disagree.
Ah sorry... just now read 'petco'. Are you seriously suggesting there was someone in that petco store that knew how to identify tarantula species beyond flicking through a color picture guide and saying.. hmmmm it looks like that one as it has tan spinnerets.
Im just worried now that it was sold as 'true zebra' which is even worse than 'zebra'. It implies they know there are similar 'non-zebra' species out there, but then got it completely wrong, but wanted to argue it was the real deal.. oh please.
I was just taking a stab in the dark as to what species it was. The kid at petco didn't seem to have a clue about anything. I don't know why they would label it "true zebra" either.
What I do know is that I am having some difficulty identifying it, so thank you for your input sjl197! I can't wait till it molts. I'll keep trying to match it to Aphonopelma species.
Well, you did very well getting the id to A.seemanni, as theyre very close. But as i said, i think after moulting it will become grayish with thin leg stripes, not blacker with think leg stipes (unless it becomes adult male, which are plain black for both species). Like A.seemanni, this is another central american Aphonopelma, which also has tan spinnarets. The knee stripes get a little thicker like A.seemanni as adults, but when much older, and they dont seem to ever go as black. If you look on some forum pages you will find some discussion on this species. Anyway, its not A.seemanni but another closely related one that is often imported from guatemala/honduras and sold as A.seemanni. Best call it Aphonopelma sp. guatemala.
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