Help with Honduran tarantula indentification

Trace

Arachnosquire
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A friend of mine smuggled a spiderling back from a tiny island off the coast of Honduras a few years ago. I just got to take pictures of it and I can't possitively identify it, I am thinking some kind of Aphonopelma. I am sure there are more knowledgeable people here that could probably narrow it down a little more. View the 4 pictures here under Hondurantarantula http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/browseimages.php?do=member&imageuser=765
 

moose35

Arachnoprince
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i have no clue but i looks huge....i have to be totally honest that ventral shot looks psed...i would love to see proff that i'm wrong cause if so that girl is humongous


moose
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Holy cow that thing is huge. It might be the pics but wow. I dont know what it is ither.
I hope someone knows and chimes in!
 

ballpython2

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Can you tell us some of its qualities? like is it defensive? how much does it eat?...Does it have any uricating hairs? is it aboreal or terresterial or semi aboreal?

I'm just asking these questions so we can try to norrow it down to a few species.....
what color was it before it was this black color??
did it take a long time to reach that size?
what size it?
how often did it molt since your friend had it?....anything we can add to the bite reports would help also...

did you try to email botar and ask him?..He can probably ID it in a matter of days.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Without hearing the answers to those questions that has to be a terresterial.

That big furry patch near the top of the abdomen is really throwing me off. I am going to wager some sort of natural hybred.
 

P. Novak

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Wow, I too have no idea, I am stumped. :? Something screams Lasiodora spp. to me, but I very well could be mistaken. Also, that thing is huge, if that ain't PSed then wow.
 

Trace

Arachnosquire
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I really don't think it's a Lasiodora. It's Honduran so it has urticating hairs, it is also terrestrial and flighty. I don't know when the last molt was but I think it was about a year ago. It was smuggled a few years ago when my friend was vacationing down in Honduras. He saw a large population of these spiders on an island and kept a spiderling he found in a film canister. I don't think it's a natural hybrid or anything, just a species we don't see in the pet trade too often. And the thing is huge, probably as big as some of my Theraphosa.
 

M.F.Bagaturov

Arachnoprince
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Hello!

What island it was?
This one is looking like an Lasiodora spp, but in fact very strange to find any of Lasiodora species outside its natural range. On the other note this area is distributed by another huge theraphosine terrestrials - Phormictopus spp, but frankly this particular tarantula doesn't look like em.
Also, does it possible to made a photos which show the tarantula and not only underside or a aside - this is not Poecilotheria spp and the photos are done didn't help much.
 

dangerprone69

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At least superficially it looks like a Lasiodora sp. to me, but I'm no taxonomist. I'm also not aware that Lasiodora occurs that far north. Possibly some type of Phormictopus?
 

B.L.

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I would like to get one of those! Looks like you took good care of it if it grew that big.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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Can you ask him to take more pictures from like the front of the T, an overhead shot, etc.
 

Botar

Arachnoprince
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did you try to email botar and ask him?..He can probably ID it in a matter of days.
Hey, I appreciate the confidence, but taxonomy is not my thing. I'm stumped right along with everyone else, but also equally impressed.

Botar
 

Hamburglar

Arachnobaron
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Vitalius bucherli, A. ferina, A. fracta, A. chacoana... etc. etc. etc. I think all of these species look somewhat similar to the photos so it would be hard to tell.....
 

Lorgakor

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It's easy to say "It's a Lasiodora!" or "It's a Acanthoscurria!", but it would be best to actually figure out which species are native to that area first. There may not even be any Lasiodora or Acanthoscurria in that area. Of course there might be, I don't know. The only Honduran tarantula I can think of off the top of my head is B. albopilosum, but of course that's not what this is.

I've been trying to find a site that lists native species in that area but have not had any luck.
 

RichardG

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Jun 26, 2006
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Well all that can really be said from the pictures is that it's a member of the Theraphosinae subfamily. Guessing a genus/species is difficult particularly as nobody in the hobby will have first hand experience with this one-off (and you can't see the important microscopic details).

Your best bet of getting a genus ID would be to send a moult to somebody like Ray Gabriel who's familiar with the taxonomy of large central American theraphosines. There doesn't look to be much of a scopula on metatarsus IV, which would point towards Sericopelma (although I can't see it properly behind the "Arachnoboards" writing).

Large central American theraphosines often turn out to be Sericopelma and Ray's definitely your man when it comes to these.

Cheers,
Richard
 

Crotalus

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Check a old molt for the shape of the spermatheca, it might give you a little clue to genus atleast
 

M.F.Bagaturov

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Hello Richard amd Lelle!

I'm pretty sure it is not Sericopelma spp and I think there is some mistake with the origin of this tarantula, that's explainsw all.
 
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