Damon diadema/variegatus molted

[Snipes]

Found it had molted today, and he/she is a wonderful shade of blue for the time being. Can anyone tell if its diadema or variegatus?

 

[Arachnophilist]

can't help ya with the ID but that is sure a cool lookin arachnid! I have to get one of those for myself.. how big is it now?

 

[Snipes]

Measuring from first leg on one side to last leg on other side as with tarantulas, it is 3" on the old exoskeleton. With the whippers stretched out, an easy 8". I am not sure exactly what the measuring protocol is for these guys :8o

 

[Carlos.e]

I think it's a female, good photos too.

 

[Selenops]

Great pics, I love the close-up. It picked up incredible details.

I don't know how to ID Tail-less Whipscorpions but I believe there is sexual diamorphism by which the males have the greater (nearly ridiculous) elongate pedipalps.

So I agree this is probably a female.

 

[padkison]

Orin McMonigle (Elytra and Antenna) can probably ID it if you send him a picture.

 

[Snipes]

I should update that i got a male today at the Portland Expo . I will post some pics when he gets settled in. There is definite sexual dimorphism, and there were a bunch of them in a tub and i picked out the one that was a definite male. Im hoping to get them both identified and eventually bred. Thanks Padkison, i will contact him.

Here is a pic i took of him while transporting him. I only took the one because i didnt want to get closer and stress him even more than the ride home.

 

[TNeal]

Hi - Nice pics.

I keep diadema and I have never seen that bright coloration on my little guy/gal after molting. But the picture you have of it when transporting home looks just like my diadema. So my guess is yours is a diadema.

Keep us posted on how they do for you. I love these guys.

Tom

 

[BMSGWORS]

I don't know how to ID Tail-less Whipscorpions but I believe there is sexual diamorphism by which the males have the greater (nearly ridiculous) elongate pedipalps

This isn't always true. In the book "Whip Spiders" by Peter Weygoldt he plots male and female pedipalp tibia length vs carapace length, the difference isn’t as marked in D variegatus as it is in D diadema. D annulatipes demonstrates no sexual dimorphism when it comes to pedipalp-carapace ratios, however the figure in P Weygoldt's revision of the genus in 1999 would suggest that the male can grow larger than the female. D diadema has two spines on the ventral pedipalp trocanter, D variegatus only has one. You should easily be able to identify them on the skin with a magnifying glass (NB there will be a background of smaller spines but you should easily distinguish the larger spines). Try to get a copy of his paper if you struggle it contains very clear diagrams of the area of interest.


Peter Weygoldt "Revision of the genus Damon C.L. Kock 1850 (Chelicerata: Amblypygi: Phrynichihae. Zoologica 150 pp 1-45


Cheers
Graham

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I have never seen a picture of D.variegatus on the internet although there are many, many pictures of D.diadema labeled as D.variegatus. D.variegatus is almost solid black.

 

[Snipes]

Hooray! I am questioning whether to mate them or not right now. The female even with the last molt is quite a bit smaller. Here are some pics for comparison.

I have not found many specifics on D. diadema (i also searched variegatus) breeding. Most things i have read are just about voila! you have babies and now you need to keep things extremely humid. I dont know whether to tank them together or introduce them and wait like i do with tarantulas. Since they re known to be cannibalistic and she is smaller i am worried of the boy eating her. Should i wait for the female to molt one more time and then put them in a larger tank together for a while? Any advise from anyone who has mated this species before would be helpful.

 

[Stylopidae]

Ask and ye shall recieve

Can I have a baby or two when you finally get babies? :worship:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=7001&page=2&highlight=whipscorpions

I don't really know anything about inducing them to mate. Everyone just says keep them together and you'll have babies. I suspect there's more to the process to encourage mating.