A few more arachnids from Trinidad

[tarcan]

Here are a few more pictures from our trip...

You can see the scorps here:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=67370

And the myriapods here:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=67345

First from amblipygi...

The pictures with the babies were taken there, the other close ups were taken at home.

 

[tarcan]

Some spiders...

 

[tarcan]

some more spiders!

 

[tarcan]

A few more... I wonder if someone can have a guess... someone told me the first one was a Phoneutria sp. male, I just wonder? It ws huge, the biggest trus spider I ever saw, at least 6" legspan...

 

[tarcan]

Ok, last series, the mygalomorph...

The first one is the smallest mygalomorph I ever saw... as you can see it has an eggsac... but it is a bout 1/4" legspan, a bit more... the ruler is in 1/16"

Martin

 

[moricollins]

Martin :drool: :worship: :drool:

Did you bring the ampligid babies home?

 

[tarcan]

Mori,

A few, I had quotas to respect, the other babies were released in the wild since they had climbed down the mother already.

Martin

 

[Scolopendra55]

Excelent pics!! What all did you bring home?

 

[Stefan2209]

A few more... I wonder if someone can have a guess... someone told me the first one was a Phoneutria sp. male, I just wonder? It ws huge, the biggest trus spider I ever saw, at least 6" legspan...

Hi Martin,

whoever told you that the first spider is a Phoneutria, is apparently right to my opinion. Same goes for the sexing...

Thanks for posting that pic, i´ve seen a pic of this "morph" or whatever you like to call it, just once before. So now i got a locality,too, very interesting.

6" legspan? They grow even bigger than that, talk about 2" bodies and nearly 8" legspan in the biggest documented specimen.

You didn´t bring some of those with you, did ya??

Greetings from germany,

Stefan

 

[hamfoto]

Stefan,

I was waiting to see if someone with Phonuetria knowledge was going to respond to that pic!
I'm shocked about this...I've worked in Trinidad and have never heard of Phonuetria being there! I wonder if the local biologists are aware!!! wow! no, I'm sure someone knows about them...but this is surprising to me.
It makes sense though, if Phonuetria are present in areas of Venezuela, near the coast... There are an incredible amount of species on Trinidad that are also found in Venezuela...some that look exactly the same, some that look a little different, and some that have completely diverged into new species...It tells me that, geologically and evolutionary, it hasn't been that long since the land bridge connecting the two was flooded and isolated.

Martin,
if it's o.k. to ask...I'd like to find out what part of the island you saw the Phonuetria? I've worked there in the past, all over the island, and I'm very interested in this...(you can PM me if you like)
Wonderful photos!

thanks,
Chris

 

[Stefan2209]

Stefan,

I was waiting to see if someone with Phonuetria knowledge was going to respond to that pic!
I'm shocked about this...I've worked in Trinidad and have never heard of Phonuetria being there! I wonder if the local biologists are aware!!! wow! no, I'm sure someone knows about them...but this is surprising to me.
It makes sense though, if Phonuetria are present in areas of Venezuela, near the coast... There are an incredible amount of species on Trinidad that are also found in Venezuela...some that look exactly the same, some that look a little different, and some that have completely diverged into new species...It tells me that, geologically and evolutionary, it hasn't been that long since the land bridge connecting the two was flooded and isolated.

Martin,
if it's o.k. to ask...I'd like to find out what part of the island you saw the Phonuetria? I've worked there in the past, all over the island, and I'm very interested in this...(you can PM me if you like)
Wonderful photos!

thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

i´m following every bit of information about this genus since some years, they´re distributed over most, if not all central- and southamerican countries.

Surprised you didn´t know? No need to be. Phoneutria are "famous" for their aggression and dangerousness and toxicity.
As with most tell-tales this is just to a very small part true: there are no documented cases of serious bite-accidents with members of this genus other than P. nigriventer.
Furthermore, there are chemical analyses available that indicate that the toxin of the other species can´t kill a human being.

More irritating even, that it´s well recognized among southamerican scientists, that there are more species existing than the actual five described.

Take all this into one account and you have a very easy to understand explanation why nobody informed you: they just didn´t know, as this spider might never have caused any accidents in Trinidad.
Or it might have caused accidents without any serious results. In this case the people might be well aware of their presence, but they just don´t care.

If you should be interested in this topic, make a try: Try searching for serious accidents with Phoneutria in Costa Rica. I´ll give you a hint,too: there´s at least one study available...

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[hamfoto]

Stefan,

yeah, I'll check it out. I knew that they were distributed throughout C.A. and S.A., just had never heard anyone I talked to about spiders, in Trinidad, mention Phonuetria.
Learn new stuff all the time!

thanks,
Chris

 

[tarcan]

Steffan,

Thank you very much for your information!

He might have been bigger, I am known to underestimate the size of the spiders!

No, I did not bring any of those back home.

Take care

Martin

 

[Scourge]

Great pics! How large was the Scytodes sp.?

 

[Ms. Peaches]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing

 

[Stefan2209]

Steffan,

Thank you very much for your information!

He might have been bigger, I am known to underestimate the size of the spiders!

No, I did not bring any of those back home.

Take care

Martin

Hi Martin,

your very welcome, i appreciate, you posted those pics!

Better to underestimate than vice versa... , but yes, this genus can bring up some very, very large species. Phoneutria is said to be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest hunting spider species in the south- and central americas. Only genus that brings up some species to comparable sizes is Ancylometes.

There´s still much news to be discovered, take the pictured Phoneutria fera cf Oyapok for an example: they´re quite suspicious coloured in pink and reach considerable sizes (more than 6" legspan), nevertheless i wasn´t able to find only the slightest bit of information about such a species. The longer i search and just find nothing, the more i come to the impression that this species is, despite it´s colour and size, still undescribed.

Quite unbelievable, if you´ve seen this spider, how can such a monster go unnoticed?

If such a species is still unknown by man, what more is around there, that has still to be discovered?

By time i make my way down there and take a look for myself....

Greetings,

Stefan