Aphonopelma mooreae

[Widowman10]

i don't have anything official, but i do know of another member or two on here that have found A.m. for sure here in the states. of course they aren't going to post that precious info on the www though

 

[Bill S]

i don't have anything official, but i do know of another member or two on here that have found A.m. for sure here in the states. of course they aren't going to post that precious info on the www though

Unfortunately, that's the difference between unsupported anecdotal stories and scientific data. And there are reasons why these stories could be suspect, such as the possibility that the owners of A. moorei specimens might want to avoid being accused of smuggling tarantulas out of Mexico.

 

[JoeRossi]

According to "Mr. West".

"I was just looking at the pic on Mr. West's page. Gorgeous! "

Accoriding to Rick or "Mr. West":

Aphonopelma mooreae is from central Sonora State, Mexico, and not found near or in the neighboring US States. There was a couple of specimens collected by a herpetologist back in the late 80's who brought these back to Arizona.

One was a female which produced a viable eggsac in captivity ... but only a
few young survived ... of which a couple were given to me which matured at
different times (images on my website) and were unbreedable. Since then, a
few have been found in the type location but the area is patrolled by
authorities and no one wants to take the chance of being caught and ending
up in a Mexican jail. The few that have illegally been caught and smuggled
back to the US have not produced viable eggsacs.

 

[Bill S]

Accoriding to Rick or "Mr. West":

..... Since then, a few have been found in the type location but the area is patrolled by authorities and no one wants to take the chance of being caught and ending up in a Mexican jail.

I know several field biologists working in the Alamos area of Sonora, Mexico and they find these tarantulas fairly often. They've photographed them and documented them, and there's a book on a biodiversity study project in that region that has photos of A. moorei in it. (It's either already published or will be very soon.) Not a rare animal in its native environment, and that location is not patrolled any more than the rest of Mexico is. Finding them does not lead to a trip to a Mexican jail. I suspect that Mr. West is just trying to scare people away from the site.

A picture of the species, taken in its natural habitat by one of the people I mentioned, can be seen at http://www.erikenderson.com/Galleries/Invertebrates/slides/Aphonopelma_moorei.html

 

[Bill S]

Further information on the discovery of A. moorei can be found at: http://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/yecora_gallery-fauna4.php.

 

[JoeRossi]

Hey Bill

Hey Bill, glad to hear from you again by the way. I think Rick is speaking of the smuggling point and not the finding yet the patrolling part may have changed since, he is mistaken, or is how you say? If you are contesting I can go find the specie and sneak it accross the boarder no problem then I know your wrong. However, I know you are not and are correct that finding any specie If your going to hoof it is no problem with the appropriate paper work ( I saw some great stuff abroad in 98 Brazil, Venezuela, Malaysia, Vietnam etc....). I also know several individuals who have seen a ton of "rares" while on expos in their wild environment. I don't think the point was to scare people that the federalies (I live next to and have taken several trips into mexio) are patroling the area with AK's, but that coming accross boarder lines with anything is a risk. A long long long time ago I almost got tossed in for having some fireworks in the backpack as well as driving 5 miles over the speed limit and it ended up just costing me some $$ and the confiscation of the fire works . I know I am not bringing anything accross that boarder.....

 

[bliss]

Maybe I'm missing something, but if it was mooreae in 1995 and moorei in 1995, 2000 and 2003 - doesn't that indicate it went from mooreae to moorei?

You are correct, I read it wrong.

Here is how it is read exactly on the WSC.

m mooreae Smith, 1995....................Mexico [urn:lsid:amnh.org:spidersp:001749]
A. moorei Smith, 1995: 123, f. 508-517 (Dm; N.B.: patronym for Barbara Moore).
A. moorei Peters, 2000b: 146, f. 441-442 (m).
A. m. Peters, 2003: 61, f. 231, 235 (m).

For some reason I was assuming the top name in bold was the current name, being used as a header. My bad. lol


Anyways, these things are awesome. Look almost exactly like a C. cyaneopubescens.. well, at least from the pictures.

 

[Zoltan]

Maybe I'm missing something, but if it was mooreae in 1995 and moorei in 1995, 2000 and 2003 - doesn't that indicate it went from mooreae to moorei?

You are correct, I read it wrong.

Here is how it is read exactly on the WSC.

m mooreae Smith, 1995....................Mexico [urn:lsid:amnh.org:spidersp:001749]
A. moorei Smith, 1995: 123, f. 508-517 (Dm; N.B.: patronym for Barbara Moore).
A. moorei Peters, 2000b: 146, f. 441-442 (m).
A. m. Peters, 2003: 61, f. 231, 235 (m).

For some reason I was assuming the top name in bold was the current name, being used as a header. My bad. lol

It's mooreae, not moorei. Smith incorrectly named it moorei, and his error was corrected by Platnick. Since the name is a patronym for a woman (Barbara Moore), the suffix is -ae, not -i, so not moorei but mooreae.

 

[cacoseraph]

oh, i've heard of the legendary blue aphonopelma from the US... but i always assumed it was smugglers hoping to smooth a path for buyers down the road


it's really funny, all the boards and forums FREAK OUT when you say locations past city... but the actual workers publish coords with helpful tips to endangered species all the time.

i personally wish ppl would be more active in going out and finding and documenting stuff.

 

[madamwlf]

It would be nice to see more of these guys around. Beautiful

 

[dactylus]

Just giving the thread a "chest thump" to make sure that it is still pumping...

Any news on the possibility of potential captive breeding of this species in the USA or Europe?

 

[willychon]

pics



Aphonopelma sp Arizona and Aphonopelma mooreae from Mexico

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

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Aphonopelma sp Arizona and Aphonopelma mooreae from Mexico

Very nice!

Jose

---------- Post added 09-11-2013 at 10:32 AM ----------

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Aphonopelma sp Arizona and Aphonopelma mooreae from Mexico

It reminds me of an A. behlei but with real nice coloration.

Jose