Can you tell....

[SpiderRacer]

....if this is a female or male A moderatum from the attached snapshot of her most recent molt?
It appears to be a female to me, but with the low resolution on my daughter's IntelPlay microscope at 10X, I'm not that sure.
This T is about 2 years old...not quite 3" before the molt this shed came from.
I'll attach the two other snapshots I took on her microscope in the next two replies. Believe me, these are as good a clip as that microscope can take.
Thanks in advance.

 

[SpiderRacer]

Next one

 

[SpiderRacer]

Last pic. Sorry again about the quality.

 

[rosehaired1979]

Don't take my word for it but i say Male course the pic is not really taken that great so thats why I am not 100% on the sexing.

 

[PapaSmurf]

I'm thinking its a male too but as rosehaired said it isnt a really good picture to tell with. Anyways im no expert ethier but thats what i think.

josh

 

[tarantulakeeper]

Try backlighting the molt. Place it on a small piece of glass or I use a Dannon Yogurt lid. Then shine a light up through the molt. I think you have the two fingers of a split spermatheca there. Some Aphonopelma's spermathecas are fused while some are split. I looked through Smith's Tarantulas of the USA but he doesn't have the female moderatum shown. I have two of these and was able to sex them under 2 inches. Hope this helps, John

 

[SpiderRacer]

Thanks for the replies.
I tried the backlighting, but it looked alien....like a negative, and showed virtually no detail.....very opaque.
I know the quality of the pics doesn't help much.
I guess I'll have to wait until the next molt and try again on this T. Maybe I can get some more detail then (with a macro shot from the digital camera).
I've had it a year, and this is the first molt it's been through with me. I guess these are very slow growing, but the orange hue on the legs is stunning .....well worth the wait.