The Spider House
Arachnobaron
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2020
- Messages
- 534
Can only find these atm on my phone. Hope they help. Not all belong to the 4 shared. Some are on other smithi/ex annitha I use and at various life stages.Do you have pictures of their spermathecae from any molts? It would be interesting to see some in comparison to B. hamorii spermathecae if possible.
Some are labelled and typically I try to do a collage with the DLS, spermathecae and a picture of the recently moulted spider for my record. Works for me anywayIt's more helpful to label the pix w/the sex parts, at least for me. Nice images though!
The best source of spermathecae pictures of the Brachypelma species would be the revisionary work by Mendoza and Francke. That publication contains many pictures of the spermathecae of both B. smithi and B. hamorii which illustrate the variation and what to look for to distinguish the two species from each other.Do you have pictures of their spermathecae from any molts? It would be interesting to see some in comparison to B. hamorii spermathecae if possible.
View of the spermathecae is being blocked by the uterus externus in these photos. For Brachypelma, you need to cut the spermathecae out of the molt, flip it over, and take a picture of the ventral side. The difference between B. smithi and B. hamorri is in the spermathecal base plates which is only viewable from the bottom. The shape of the spermathecae itself varies too much in both species so it is useless for telling the two species apart.One of my AF B hamorii moulted yesterday so I have put spermathecae pics side by side for a comparison between the 2 species
I will do that with the hamorii but don't have any fresh moults from any of the smithi yet.View of the spermathecae is being blocked by the uterus externus in these photos. For Brachypelma, you need to cut the spermathecae out of the molt, flip it over, and take a picture of the ventral side. The difference between B. smithi and B. hamorri is in the spermathecal base plates which is only viewable from the bottom. The shape of the spermathecae itself varies too much in both species so it is useless for telling the two species apart.
Example...
View attachment 408791
Same here. I have had a large subadult male and female of B. smithi in my collection for about 2 years now and the male molted once and the female has yet to. The female needs to hurry it up a bit.I will do that with the hamorii but don't have any fresh moults from any of the smithi yet.
Thanks for the info and guidance