Genus Ephebopus

[Michael Jacobi]

Hi Michael,
are you sure that this is uatuman? Maybe a better picture from the tooths?

Regards,
Steffen

Hi Steffen,

Yes, I am sure. The young hatched here were examined by Rick West (who described E. cyanognathus and E. rufescens along with Dr. Sam Marshall). I am assuming that "from the tooths" means the chelicerae. E. uatuman is very similar in general appearance to E. cyanognathus save for the blue chelicerae. The spermathecae are also different and E. uatuman has blue on the prolateral face of femur I. The emerald green sheen of the abdomen is not shown well in my photos and fades between molts.

For more information on this genus click here. Those who can't read German may want to click here and enter www.ephebopus.com and select German to English.

Click here for photos of the genus, and here for Rick West's photo depicting the bluish femur.

Cheers, Michael

 

[Michael Jacobi]

I especially like Ephebopus murinus.

 

[KZoo]

Michael, how young does this blue show up, and is it in both sexes when they are immature? My E. uatuman is about 3", and a photo I took of her has a definite blue sheen to the inside and underneath of the femur on the front two legs. I would love to know it is a she already ... I haven't had her molt for me yet since I got her, so for now, it's all a guess!!

 

[tarcan]

Here is a pic showing the purple on the femur of an angry E. uatuman!... I love this genus!

Followed by random pictures of some of my specimens...

 

[Steve]

Hi Michael,
let me explain my thinking(with my bad english).
I have some Ephebopus species , and i know that you can't describe a species because a color and if you saw a photo you can't decide100% the species. I know pictures can adulterate the colors . And i'm only a guy who can do "a little bit hobbytaxonomie " I have the first descriptions from uatuman and cyanognathus but there is no large different between the spermathecae of these species(imho, maybe a taxonom have a other view?) And i make photos from the spermathecae of my uatuman and cyanognathus and i can't see a different. And look at the picture from tarkan, blue chelicerae and blue femur I, right? But "blue tooth" = cyanognathus? and blue femur I = uatuman?
and no "blue tooth" = uatuman?

I think that's a problem *g*

I saw a different between the species optical by the color. But that couldn't be all between the two species right?. Uatuman are much brighter than cyanognathus(imho) but that's all??(compare the femur from the 3 and 5 picture from tarkan)? I make some pictures from my species as you can see in this thread. And compare between the spiders i labeled as uatuman and cyanognathus. And because this i look at your picture and think about, because the femur from your female is dark, darker than from the uatuman. But maybe my uatuman females with no blue femur and no "blue tooth" is cyanognathus( i don't belive but maybe i'm wrong?)?

It's possible that i'm 100% wrong, please correct me!

Regards,
Steffen
Btw. i know the page better than you think. It's mine but i have the "problem" between cyanognathus and uatuman. But maybe that's no problem. And i think the second picture from the uatuman on my page is a cyanognathus, but only probable(note the black femur *g*)

 

[Michael Jacobi]

Steffen,

I had a feeling that the ephebopus.com site was yours. I even checked your Public Profile to see if it was listed as your home page, but a different site is.

Anyway, as you wrote, color and photographs have little to do with taxonomy. It must be remembered that color can differ quite dramatically in one individual tarantula depending on what point of the molt cycle the specimen was viewed/photographed. Color also varies from individual to individual, and population to population, even if not to the same degree as in "higher animals". And as I wrote, my photograph does not do a sufficient job of representing the spider. It, to be honest, is poorly lit and does not illustrate the purplish-blue color of the "inner femur" of Leg I. Unfortunately, I recently sold her and have no other E. uatuman to photograph.

The female in my photograph is the mother of the juvenile. There were about 80 other siblings and none had blue checlicerae. I had the spiderlings available at the 2003 ATS conference and Rick West looked at them and verified that they were E. uatuman.

The photo you mention by tarcan is interesting. The purplish-blue femur makes me believe it is actually E. uatuman, not E. cyanognathus, even though the photo does give the appearance of bluish tint to the chelicerae (but not the vivid blue).

You mention that you have both of the original descriptions so it seems that our roles in this thread should be reversed - I should be asking you the questions, not vice versa. I have neither. I am sure the paper on E. cyanognathus covers its differences from E. uatuman. I have exhausted my knowledge on the subject. I will email Rick a link to this thread and see if he wishes to comment.

Cheers, Michael

 

[Steve]

Hi Michael,
i only ask you because the species because this is very interesting for me! I try to learn as much as possible with this thread.

" Color also varies from individual to individual, and population to population, even if not to the same degree as in "higher animals". " <--- that's right, i agree!

"It, to be honest, is poorly lit and does not illustrate the purplish-blue color of the "inner femur" of Leg I. " right, but i compare it with the other pictures and my spiders at home. And i compare the femur from all leggs. But i said it's possible that i'm 100% wrong, because this i hope somebody can help us.

And if Rick saw your species and said it's uatuman no problem. And if they have no blue chelicerae it's for my current standard of knowledge uatuman.Rick descriped this species and he should know uatuman. 100% Agree I'm only a layman.

I hope Rick can help us! Because I have exhausted my knowledge on the subject, too.


Cheers,
Steffen

 

[Rick_C_West]

Michael Jacobi's specimen is E. uatuman. [BTW, I did not describe this species from Rio Uatuman, Brazil, see my website for authors]. Premoult E. uatuman specimens are a faded olive brown, postmoult specimens have , pubescent green abdominal pile setae, violet pubescence on prolateral femur I and NO 'blue' pubescent chelicerae, HOWEVER, in postmoult ultimate females, the chelicerae can have a slight purplish pubescent timge which quickly fades to dull brown as does the green and violet pubescence. Hopes this helps ... now, all get along!

 

[Rick_C_West]

Excuse the crappy grammar & typos in the last post ... in a rush and have little time for pet forum differences of opinion.

 

[Greg Wolfe]

Blue Fang Husbandry...

Blue Fangs need deep substrate (peat) to burrow in. If they cannot burrow they will stress out and stop eating. My female has constructed a foot deep burrow and only comes out at night to feed. Keep them moist and warm 75F-80F and you will be rewarded with the ultimate burrower for years to come.
Greg Wolfe
Indiana Exotics

 

[Steve]

Hi,
thx for reply Rick!
Back to the subject of the thread

E.uatuman male adult

Regards,
Steffen

 

[MeteoRa]

man u guys surely got beautiful T.s....

 

[RichardDegville]

Ephebopus cyanognathus spiderling

 

[hooale]

one of my favorite E.murinus pics. I did not expect an eggsack to hatch. This was in summer'02

 

[Steve]

Hi,
some more pictures!

One E.uatuman female and one E.rufescens female.

Enjoy,
Steffen

 

[Boris Striffler]

Hi guys,

just a picture of a Ephebopus murinus couple right before their mating.

Cheers Boris

 

[Steve]

Hi,

E.uatuman eggsack(maybe the first breeding in europe) and E.cyanognathus male adult.

Regards,
Steffen

 

[RichardDegville]

Ephebopus cyanognathus (West & Marshall 2000) spiderling

Ephebopus rufescens (West & Marshall 2000) spiderling

Ephebopus murinus (Walckenaer 1837) juvenile

Ephebopus uatuman (Lucas & Bertani 1992) spiderling

 

[Bean]

Here,s a large varient of E murinus,this specimen is due a molt and has a leg span of just over 7".

... very cool spider. Can you talk more specifically about the "variant" label? Does this mean unidentified? Hybrid? It appears to have urticating hairs on the opisthosoma... I understood E. murinus to possess these on the pedipalps only..

 

[Bean]

Here's my lady:
(she's about 4.5"- 5")

0.1.0 E. murinus

0.1.0 E. murinus