Damon species mislabeling & hybridization concern

[aphono]

Are Damon diadema and D. medius able to successfully hybridize or not?

I've been starting to see things such as advertisements showing pictures of D. diadema yet the actual specimens for sale strongly appear to be WC medius. Or selling both under the common label of "Tanzanian whip spider" as if they were a single species. I'm concerned about the potential of hybridization fouling up the captive gene pool as in the case of some tarantulas- Brachypelmas as a notable example.

The closest I came to finding anything on this: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439609205000425

Summary of relevant parts:

• D. variegatus x D. variegatus from different locales had some successful mating, some not successful- potential reasons for the latter not clear(to me).

• D. variegatus x D. sylviae willingly bred with successful spermatophore transfer, some of the females laid eggs but eggs failed to develop.

• D. variegatus x D. annulatipes- not successful. Any courtship terminated early, no spermatophore formation. The females willingly bred with conspecifics next day.

Small sample size though. The fact some issues came up within East African group Damon mate recognition plus instances of failed reproduction gives some hope that D. diadema and D. medius are not likely to successfully hybridize(East vs West African groups instead of entirely East African grouping in the mate recognition experiment above) but it'd be nice to have confirmation either way?

 

[Smokehound714]

i dont even think hybridization is possible with any amblypygi, even within the same genus, arachnid genitalia tend to lack homogeny, it's like a lock and key.

 

[aphono]

i dont even think hybridization is possible with any amblypygi, even within the same genus, arachnid genitalia tend to lack homogeny, it's like a lock and key.

Sure hope that's the case, however in the article above for several trials between D. variegatus(males- collection locations mentioned below) x sylviae females:

Mating and spermatophore transfer were successful, although the spermatophores of males from Hoedspruit, and particularly those from Medike, were much thicker, with larger sperm packages that protruded from the female gonopore for some hours after mating​

It's finding out that successful sperm transfer may be possible despite some lock-key differences that's a bit concerning. Some of these females went on to lay eggs but fortunately, the eggs didn't develop.

 

[schmiggle]

They're from different sections within Damon, so I suspect it's a non-issue. It's probably nearly impossible to know without a detailed anatomic analysis, however.