Completely confused after molt

[sdgfour]

Back in November of last year I bought a tarantula from a guy at repticon. It looked like a C. crawshayi and after asking him he told me indeed it was. It looked perfectly fine but on the abdomen there was a huge white spot, almost like a scab of some kind. He said this was due to a bad molt. I brought it home and put it in a burrower setup like my other C. crawshayi. Since November he did not eat a single time. I tried to feed him every other week, and eventually once a month. Never went for anything. He also NEVER burrowed. Always stayed up top under a little log I had in there. I've been scratching my head about him for almost a year now. Today I was checking up on him and couldn't believe what I saw. I've scoured my pictures and cannot find the one from before, but here's the exuvia. The picture doesn't show it too well, but he was the exact rust color I'd expect from a C. crawshayi.

This is what he turned into today:

MM by the looks of it:

I have no clue what it actually is. What am I missing here? :?

 

[LisaD]

I can't help you, but that is really strange. How big is the T? And it really ate NOTHING for nearly a year??? Is it eating now? Will tag along waiting for enlightenment while bumping up your post.

I would change the habitat to provide more variety of moisture levels, hides, etc., since you do not know the requirements.

 

[Arachnos482]

Looks like a MM, B. Vagans. Strange....

 

[Nicole]

Does he have hooks? Could be Sericopelma rubronitens.

 

[WARPIG]

Does he have hooks? Could be Sericopelma rubronitens.

Agreed!!!


PIG-

 

[Pyropiscus]

I had an Aphonopelma bicoloratum that we thought was female for a while. It came into my possession in November 2008, and ate nothing but a single cricket until November or December 2009, when it molted out as a mature male. It looked drastically different as a male as well. Could this long fast be an Aphonopelma thing? Or maybe just a new world desert thing?

Also, there's a reference to white scabs on the undersides of a T's abdomen in The Tarantula Keeper's Guide, page 161-2 under "hernia."

 

[KoriTamashii]

That IS odd. It does look a whole lot like a B. vagans. :?

 

[GPulchra]

My god, this is strange. If I would have to guess, you have a B. Vagans. As for the rust-color[ed moult], I don't know what to tell you.

 

[TerribleGrizz]

Doesn't quite look like a B. vagans to me for some reason.:? I also think it could be S. rubronitens. You'll have to let us know if it has hooks or not.

 

[Stan Schultz]

Back in November of last year I bought a tarantula from a guy at repticon. It looked like a C. crawshayi and after asking him he told me indeed it was. ...

...

I could tell from the first glance at this photo that it wasn't a king baboon (now called Pelinobius muticus Karsch, 1885 see Gallon, R. C. 2010. On some Southern African Harpactirinae, with notes on the eumenophorines Pelinobius muticus Karsch, 1885 and Monocentropella Strand, 1907 (Araneae, Theraphosidae). Bull. Br. arachnol. Soc., 15 (2): 29-48.)

Compare the rear legs in photo in this posting with those in the following photo. The rear legs of P. muticus make it apppear that it has spent far too much time on a StairMaster!



(Uploaded with ImageShack.us)

So, what kind is the tarantula? Given that of the 900+ species of described tarantulas, maybe 200+ have black mature males with red bristles on their opisthosomas, this is going to be a tough one.

Best of luck to you all!

 

[curiousme]

Does he have hooks? Could be Sericopelma rubronitens.

That species does not have hooks, so you have to look for the bulbs. Caused us some confusion in the past.

It does look like ours did though.

 

[Nicole]

That species does not have hooks, so you have to look for the bulbs.

That's why I asked LOL. If he doesn't have hooks, he is likely to be S. rubronitens, and probably wild-caught from the well-weathered look that exuvia.

 

[curiousme]

That's why I asked LOL. If he doesn't have hooks, he is likely to be S. rubronitens, and probably wild-caught from the well-weathered look that exuvia.

I see said the blind man, as he picked up a hammer and saw!

 

[Vespula]

It's confusing to me. I'm no good telling many spiders apart.

 

[sdgfour]

new pics

Sorry it's been so long since I've followed up. I took some pictures and I don't see any trace of hooks, but I'll let you all have a go at it.

Best shots I could get of front legs and emboli. He does not like to be bothered.

A pic of the T in question and one of my B. vagans, respectively. I noticed the tan ring around the carapace of the B. vagans, so I've ruled that out?

S. rubronitens?

Thanks for looking!

 

[captmarga]

Here is my S. rubronitens, a mature female (HRM Victoria). There is a good resemblance, I think.

Marga

 

[Stan Schultz]

Sorry it's been so long since I've followed up. I took some pictures and I don't see any trace of hooks, but I'll let you all have a go at it. ...

A pic of the T in question and one of my B. vagans, respectively. I noticed the tan ring around the carapace of the B. vagans, so I've ruled that out? ...

A more telling reason for ruling out B. vagans is that the mature males of all the Brachypelma possess tibial spurs on their front legs.

Also, just as a guess, it looks distinctly like a tarantula belonging to the subfamily Theraphosinae (an entirely New World subfamily).

So, now we've narrowed it down to a New World, theraphosine species (as opposed to one of the other New World subfamilies) whose mature males are black and lack tibial spurs. That reduces the possibilities from 900+ to probably fewer than a half dozen.

NOW we can begin making intelligent guesses. Sericopelma rubronitens Ausserer, 1875 is looking better and better!