confusing p. ornata - plz help with colour and sexing

[Alice]

hi all,

so this is my freshly molted ornata. as it always chews up its molts, there has been nothing to sex it from so far. i bought it as a 2nd instar, now it's 4.5-5" legspan! and i still havn't been able to sex it.

the colours are very dark, even remind me a bit of rufilata, and the markings are very sharp, indicating a female... i just don't know what to make of this specimen. so help, anyone?

i tried very hard but just couldn't get a good ventral shot with my crappy cam. so here the best pics i could get:

 

[Lorgakor]

With P. ornata the males do not get the clear markings on the carapace like females do from what I understand. So that would indicate that you have a female, and it does look like P. ornata, P. rufilata have different markings. I can't really tell what the second picture is so I won't comment on it. Very nice looking spider you have.

 

[Steevens.D]

With P. ornata the males do not get the clear markings on the carapace like females do from what I understand. So that would indicate that you have a female, and it does look like P. ornata, P. rufilata have different markings. I can't really tell what the second picture is so I won't comment on it. Very nice looking spider you have.

So but clear is not on the carapace but on the abdomen.
And here it's mostly look like a male.

 

[Alice]

sorry, i didn't understand that.
are you saying that p. ornata females don't have distictive markings on the abdomen? because mine has, and therefore i thought that it was female...

 

[chris 71]

hi iam no expert but i think you have a famale if any body reads the first page of the Genus Poecilotheria pictuer thread i think they would lean tword female to after reading the posts by martin.h.

 

[Heather]

I have no idea what sex it is... but it sure is a BEAUTY!

 

[Steevens.D]

sorry, i didn't understand that.
are you saying that p. ornata females don't have distictive markings on the abdomen?

Look at the difference :

 

[Lorgakor]

sorry, i didn't understand that.
are you saying that p. ornata females don't have distictive markings on the abdomen? because mine has, and therefore i thought that it was female...

Hi Alice, I believe what was meant by that is that males have a dark line down the folio on the abdomen whereas females do not. Though I believe that as juvies they both have the line, it just continues to fade in females as they grow.

As you can see by the photos posted above the male is overall a greenish colour with zero black markings on the carapace. I have a four inch male at home who is still immature, even at that size he has no markings on the carapace and is already very greenish. Females have much more distinct black and white markings.

 

[tony77tony77]

looks female to me

 

[Alice]

thnx for clarifying that!

actually, that line has been fading a bit in the last molt... so i still hope it's female. what confuses me is how dark that specimen is overall :?
i've seen ornata females that size that were much lighter. males too, btw...

 

[Mister T]

I agree...Female

I have 5 ornatas...1 female and 4 male.There is a very noticeable difference in the markings and coloration on the carapace at the size yours is at.The males I have also are more of a drab Tan-Green color at a similar size as yours.

I think you have a female and a darn pretty one at that

 

[JMoran1097]

hi all,

so this is my freshly molted ornata. as it always chews up its molts, there has been nothing to sex it from so far. i bought it as a 2nd instar, now it's 4.5-5" legspan! and i still havn't been able to sex it.

the colours are very dark, even remind me a bit of rufilata, and the markings are very sharp, indicating a female... i just don't know what to make of this specimen. so help, anyone?

i tried very hard but just couldn't get a good ventral shot with my crappy cam. so here the best pics i could get:

almost Army green and beige...gorgeous!

 

[Apophis]

SHE looks exactly like mine at that size...