Found this T today in desert

[Dexter]

Ok so while driving home from the same desert I found this current Tarantula in. I was coming down from Julian at sundown and practically ran over this mature male running across the road. I thought WOW same spider? Let me see if they will mate. Except after getting home and looking at it looks much darker? It was found within 20-25 miles of the original tanish one only this one was onthe mountain and not in the desert.

 

[Dexter]

Better pic of her fattened up. Please try to help me tell if I can mate them. She drums and he responds.

 

[Anubis77]

Male Aphonopelma change in appearance pretty drastically when they mature. If you found them within a few miles from each other, they're likely the same species.

 

[TalonAWD]

Male Aphonopelma change in appearance pretty drastically when they mature. If you found them within a few miles from each other, they're likely the same species.

So now that you see the coloration, what do you think it is? That pic was taken with my camera.

 

[ZergFront]

Aphonopelma sp. "San Diego Hills Area"

This made me chuckle.

Could even be A. eutylenum. Aphonopelma spp. almost run together with me like most Pokies...

 

[TalonAWD]

I found this link. Figured I'd post it here.

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stevelew/myg.html

Edit: And this post.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showpost.php?p=782117&postcount=12

 

[Anubis77]

So now that you see the coloration, what do you think it is? That pic was taken with my camera.

Same thing. It looks very much like A. chalcodes, but the region doesn't support it. A molt might give it a distinct A. eutylenum look. Seems like the big Southwestern Aphonopelma fade to similarity in the wild.

You or Dexter could contact Dr. Brent Hendrixson if you want a more definitive ID.

 

[TalonAWD]

Same thing. It looks very much like A. chalcodes, but the region doesn't support it. A molt might give it a distinct A. eutylenum look. Seems like the big Southwestern Aphonopelma fade to similarity in the wild.

You or Dexter could contact Dr. Brent Hendrixson if you want a more definitive ID.

Thanks. I'm glad that at least we agree that it "Looks" like the chacoldes even though its not. (as i have learned from the info here) I agree with maybe a molt would help greatly. The male does look like the A. eutylenum like ZergFront stated. So if the male is the A. eutylenum, than maybe the female is the same since she is responding to his drumming, which is a really unique style. Its like a total body vibration.

 

[Suzjohnson]

It's thrilling to see tarantulas in the wild! We see lots of them here in So. Utah. Had a really ragged looking male nearly tromp over my foot while I was out star gazing a few evenings ago. It pays to look down before moving ones feet! A list I recently perused said the ones here are Aphonopelma iodius. Wouldn't want to detain a male on a mission so have left them alone but it was seeing so many migrating through my yard that inspired my initial interest in tarantulas. What a great hobby!

 

[Noexcuse4you]

The MM found near Julian is Aphonopelma reversum and the one found near the desert is Aphonopelma sp. "eutylenum type" (possibly eutylenum but they look a little different).

 

[Terry D]

Nice pics and interesting U.S. natives.

I've noticed that local mm A. hentzi often look strikingly sexually dimorphic from large females or subadults. Some mm hentzi closely approach some of the brightest B vagans I've seen in terms of overall coloration with exception of a paler prosoma. Some large females/subadults can look nearly as pale as pics of some chalcodes I've seen. I was wondering if these visible differences are regularly observed with most other native Aphonopelma sp across the U.S. as a whole?

 

[DavidE721]

Aphonopelma from San Diego Area

Hello,

This spider is either an Aphonopelma eutylenum or Aphonopelma reversum. (Since there is some disparity as far as how the brown and black San Diego species are categorized, hence the reason for the ambiguity.) I have two of these brown tarantulas from the San Diego area, and they are indeed nice looking spiders. The slight contrast between their lighter colored carapace and brown body is striking. I also have some of the 'California ebony' tarantulas, which again fall into one of the aforementioned classifications. These beauties are jet black. What is also nice is that the females of these species live a very long time. I have a female that I have kept since 1998, and she is still going on strong. (She was a young female when I acquired her from a neighbor who found her in the garage.) Too, these spiders are generally quite docile and very easy to handle.

:biggrin: