A.anax - A.hentzi... Difference?

[H-D]

This may seem like a silly question to some, but I have seen many pictures of A.anax and A.hentzi and I'm having a hard time differentiating between the two. I have a female hentzi myself and I stumbled across images of A.anax which looked identical! The confusing part is when I see images of these two species side by side and the difference between the two is indistinguishable (from what I can see anyway)... Can anyone shed any light? :?

I've seen lighter colour morphs of A.hentzi which make the difference between the two obvious. My question is with regards to 'normal phase'. Thanks.

 

[Heartfang]

I know A. anax is from the U.S., but is the A. hentzi?
(The names are different )

 

[H-D]

I THINK that A.hentzi can be found in Texas (going by the common name: Texas Tan). Any other differences apart from location?..and the names LOL

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

here are 2 different species, I think...caught in San Antonio, Texas. It may just be a different color variation, but im not sure. Caught in the same location with the holes maybe 20 feet apart.

The brown:

The black-ish:

 

[AR-Tarantula]

A. hentzi was the first tarantula species described in the U.S. (1854) and was thought to have had a very wide distribution. Chamberlin (1940s) and Smith (1990s) came in much later and described most of the current Aphonopelma species (carving up the old A. hentzi distribution).

A. hentzi is now considered to be limited to portions of Oklahoma, while A. anax was described from specimens collected in Cameron and Kleberg Counties, Texas.

Morphological differences between most Aphonopelma in the U.S. are very minute and not notiecable to the naked eye. Also, many of the currently described species may not actually be valid species at all. Chamberlin and Smith described many species based upon only one or two individuals which does not take into account local variation. In addition, preliminary genetic work on different Aphonopelma species from across the U.S. is indicating little genetic variation among species (may all be the same thing).

 

[H-D]

This is both interesting and confusing! I've seen pics of A.hentzi that look like both of the images you posted WhyTeDraGon (mine looks like the 'black-ish' one). AR-Tarantula's info was very helpful, does your statement imply that there is the potential of A.hentzi and A.anax being the same species??

 

[AR-Tarantula]

Definitely.

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

This is both interesting and confusing! I've seen pics of A.hentzi that look like both of the images you posted WhyTeDraGon (mine looks like the 'black-ish' one). AR-Tarantula's info was very helpful, does your statement imply that there is the potential of A.hentzi and A.anax being the same species??

Question: That brown one I posted is a male, and I have 3 female blackish ones. Would it be alright to breed them together, assuming they are just a different color variation of the same species? And based on the fact that there seems to be no rock solid evidence that they are not the same species? Oh, and do you think they would even breed?

 

[AR-Tarantula]

I think you could try that. I know the taboo on the boards associated with cross-breeding attempts, but in this case, it might be an interesting experiment.

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

yeah, I think so too. The only reason I say that is because the species in the area, if they are 2 different species, obviously arent going out of their way to pick and choose by color, lol. So somewhere along the lines they've cross bred anyway.
I think it could work, I may give it a try once this male matures..should be within the next molt

Thanks

 

[Cory Loomis]

Re: Breeding the collected Aphonopelmas-
Many male North American Aphonopelmas appear "different" from the females. If the two holes were as close as you say, odds are pretty good that you have the same species and that they would breed. Go for it.