Grammostola Pulchra turns brown/orange after molt

[DaveT1976]

I've had a Grammostola pulchra (at least, I bought it as such) since December 2023.
Since then, she has molted 4 times (I would guess this is her 7th molt alltogether), with the last molt coming on November 7, 2024.

She came out of this last molt with a brownish coloration on her front legs.
The attached picture was taken on November 15, 2024.



A color change in G.pulchra seems to have been reported before, but I can't find anything conclusive to explain it. I have seen the following suggestions:
1. this is a "normal" and possibly temporary color change for G.pulchra.
2. it's a consequence of hybridization.
3. it's a different species (G.quirogai, G.grossa, G.grandicola, ...)

Does anyone know what is going on?

The pic below resembles this color change most:

View attachment 265309

 

[greeneyedelle]

“Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one”

I don’t think that’s a g. pulchra. Color aside, the texture of her hair is off as well, pulchra should look like velvet, especially after molting. You’d expect discoloration to happen prior to molting with mild lightening of the limbs right after while the exoskeleton hardens. A week seems like long time for that to happen, unless her husbandry is particularly humid. The extreme black velvet color should have presented itself while she was a juvenile—I have a juvenile male who is pure black and has been so since his last three molts. Is this a completely novel color change, did she look black and velvety before?

 

[Mustafa67]

I've had a Grammostola pulchra (at least, I bought it as such) since December 2023.
Since then, she has molted 4 times (I would guess this is her 7th molt alltogether), with the last molt coming on November 7, 2024.

She came out of this last molt with a brownish coloration on her front legs.
The attached picture was taken on November 15, 2024.

View attachment 486620

A color change in G.pulchra seems to have been reported before, but I can't find anything conclusive to explain it. I have seen the following suggestions:
1. this is a "normal" and possibly temporary color change for G.pulchra.
2. it's a consequence of hybridization.
3. it's a different species (G.quirogai, G.grossa, G.grandicola, ...)

Does anyone know what is going on?

The pic below resembles this color change most:

Doesn’t look like a G pulchra to me. Someone else posted a thread on this a while ago saying about their G pulchra molted and had a similar picture I’d recommend taking a look on that

 

[DaveT1976]

I think you are right. I have never seen the velvety look on this specimen, even though the brown coloration is new.

I am attaching two pictures from previous stages for comparison.

Any idea on what species it might be?


Directly post-molt on September 17:



And shortly after molting on August 6:



This time (November 7) she looked like this directly after molting.
The brown coloration is visible directly after molting.

Doesn’t look like a G pulchra to me. Someone else posted a thread on this a while ago saying about their G pulchra molted and had a similar picture I’d recommend taking a look on that

Thanks, i think I've seen the post.
What I saw didn't answer my question, which is why I posted this again.
However, I may have missed the answer. In that case, could you share a direct link?

 

[Wolfram1]

does it have the mirror patch on the abdomen?

 

[c.h.esteban]

@DaveT1976 do you still have the old skin?
If yes, you can contact me via pm, and we can check if this is really an grammostola.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

“Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one”

I don’t think that’s a g. pulchra. Color aside, the texture of her hair is off as well, pulchra should look like velvet, especially after molting. You’d expect discoloration to happen prior to molting with mild lightening of the limbs right after while the exoskeleton hardens. A week seems like long time for that to happen, unless her husbandry is particularly humid. The extreme black velvet color should have presented itself while she was a juvenile—I have a juvenile male who is pure black and has been so since his last three molts. Is this a completely novel color change, did she look black and velvety before?

Doesn’t look like a G pulchra to me. Someone else posted a thread on this a while ago saying about their G pulchra molted and had a similar picture I’d recommend taking a look on that

Here is a link to the recent redescription of Grammostola pulchra which includes good pictures of an adult male and female. Now draw your own conclusion on what we have in the hobby is really G. pulchra.

Using the Integrative Approach to Update a Gap of One Century: Redescription and New Distribution Records of the South American Tarantulas Grammostola pulchra (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Theraphosidae) - PMC

Taxonomic researchers have used multiple sources of evidence to support species hypotheses and delimitations. Grammostola Simon (Mygalomorphae: Theraphosidae) comprises 20 valid species endemic to South America, six occurring in Brazil. The ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[DaveT1976]

does it have the mirror patch on the abdomen?

No, I don't think so.

 

[Glorfindel]

another pretty and mysterious spider in the community, wish ya luck

 

[c.h.esteban]

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• c.h.esteban
• Sunday at 12:00 PM
• 1

further description in comment