- Joined
- May 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,860
Hello all!
I had to share my excitement tonight as I finally made an identification on an Aphonopelma species I have had in my collection for about 15 years. The tarantula was sold to me as wild caught female from Texas under the name Aphonopelma texense. As with most if not all tarantulas sold on the pet trade, there was no locality data. Just Texas. A. texense wasn't described well so I could never make an ID on it until the recent publication of the revision of the Aphonopelma species from the USA by Hamilton et. al. (2016). If you have read it, then you will know the species Aphonopelma texense is considered a nomen dubium and thanks to the excellent species key in that work, I was able to identify my mystery Texan Aphonopelma species as Aphonopelma armada.
As the revision paper states, A. armada can be distinguished from all other Texas species by possessing stout setae along the margin of the prolateral face of coxa 1. There are other differences, but that was the character that confirmed the species for me. I attached pictures of the prolateral coxa 1 of the A. armada and A. hentzi in my collection to this thread for reference in case anyone is interested in seeing what I was looking at under the microscope to compare to the species key and pictures in Hamilton et. al. (2016). In A. armada you can see the stout setae along the margin of the prolateral coxa below the suture and in A. hentzi, the stout setae cover the entire segment.
A 15 year mystery finally solved. Good times.
I had to share my excitement tonight as I finally made an identification on an Aphonopelma species I have had in my collection for about 15 years. The tarantula was sold to me as wild caught female from Texas under the name Aphonopelma texense. As with most if not all tarantulas sold on the pet trade, there was no locality data. Just Texas. A. texense wasn't described well so I could never make an ID on it until the recent publication of the revision of the Aphonopelma species from the USA by Hamilton et. al. (2016). If you have read it, then you will know the species Aphonopelma texense is considered a nomen dubium and thanks to the excellent species key in that work, I was able to identify my mystery Texan Aphonopelma species as Aphonopelma armada.
As the revision paper states, A. armada can be distinguished from all other Texas species by possessing stout setae along the margin of the prolateral face of coxa 1. There are other differences, but that was the character that confirmed the species for me. I attached pictures of the prolateral coxa 1 of the A. armada and A. hentzi in my collection to this thread for reference in case anyone is interested in seeing what I was looking at under the microscope to compare to the species key and pictures in Hamilton et. al. (2016). In A. armada you can see the stout setae along the margin of the prolateral coxa below the suture and in A. hentzi, the stout setae cover the entire segment.
A 15 year mystery finally solved. Good times.
