Brachy Info

viper69

ArachnoGod
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I thought some of you would enjoy reading this from Rick West regarding the Brachy genus.

http://www.tarantulasdemexico.com/en/brachyrickwest_en.htm

Also, while not in this post, there are at least 2 papers free on the internet that provide a distribution map of the Brachy genus in Mexico. It's a pretty interesting map when you compare phenotype on the macro level.
 

Marijan2

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Oct 21, 2012
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"In the State of Campeche, the shaman or herbateros of the Chol Indians, direct descendants of the Mayans, use B. vagans as medicine to cure fellow village members afflicted with ‘Aire de tarantula’ (tarantula air).The ailment is usually diagnosed as anything from a bad cough, chest pain to a burning stomachache.Once diagnosed as tarantula air, the shaman grinds up a live B. vagans in a cup then mixes this slurry with 97% alcohol.The concoction is poured several times through cotton, undoubtedly to filter out any urticating hairs, and is then given to the patient to drink.Sometimes, more than one of these strong alcoholic drinks is needed – yah, right!(per. comm. R. Rojo)."

:astonished:
 

Haksilence

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I thought some of you would enjoy reading this from Rick West regarding the Brachy genus.

http://www.tarantulasdemexico.com/en/brachyrickwest_en.htm

Also, while not in this post, there are at least 2 papers free on the internet that provide a distribution map of the Brachy genus in Mexico. It's a pretty interesting map when you compare phenotype on the macro level.
would you mid linking those posts? the distribution map sounds especially intriguing.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
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17,851
would you mid linking those posts? the distribution map sounds especially intriguing.
I can't. I don't have the links. Only the papers on a hard drive. I THINK one paper is from 1999, MIGHT be authored by Rick West too. The other is more recent.

I stumbled upon them by accident, so if you search you'll easily be able to find them.
 

EulersK

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Feb 22, 2013
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Hm, very interesting, especially the bits about how B. emilia lives.

This part:
The most northerly species of Brachypelma in Mexico is Brachypelma emilia (White, 1856) found west of the Sierra Madres Occidental mountain range in the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Nayarit.This highly colorful species is a fossorial burrower whose habitat ranges widely from the drier coastal thorn forests and savannahs, through the palm transition forests and wetter inland tropical deciduous forests, up into the higher and cooler elevations of the pine-oak forests.B. emilia is found under dense thorny thickets or leafy foliage in both forested and disturbed areas and seemed to prefer constructing their burrows under large trees or dense leafy ground cover as opposed to being exposed in open sunlight. The dense leafy ground cover appears to retain higher humidity around the burrow as well as provide a good microhabitat for a myriad of vertebrate and invertebrate prey.Most burrows ranged between 20 – 100 cm in length, depending on the size of the specimen occupying it, and were self-excavated in sandy/gravel soil that often followed the underside of a large Orejón or Elephant Ear tree [Enterolobium cyclocarpum] root or the underside of a partially buried large rock.Unlike so many other fossorial theraphosinae species, the burrow entrances had no telltale trace of silk to indicate a theraphosid or spider occupied it, so, there was never any indication of whether you’d find a land crab, toad, lizard, rodent or B. emilia until you get to the end of it.

B. emilia burrows, like most fossorial theraphosid taxa, have a secondary ‘refuse chamber’ that laterally branched off from the main burrow.While excavating burrows, it was common the come to the end and find it unoccupied … only to backtrack and find the specimen hiding in the refuse chamber amongst old eggsacs, exuvia and the chitinous remains of former prey items.

This is suggesting that this species may prefer it more humid than what is commonly accepted in the hobby. I think that I may slightly boost the humidity on mine until winter hits, and leave it bone dry until summer. I'm basing that off of the early passage concerning their mating behaviors. I'm not going to raise it significantly, but perhaps this is why she has been incessantly excavating since her pairing.
 
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