Heteropoda davidbowie info?

[Ryuti]

I've been looking at this species for my first non-native true but i'm having a lot of trouble coming up with a lot of information about it.

I've heard size ranges from 2.5-3 inches all the way to 9 (which i find kind of hard to believe in this case)

What size enclosures do they need, any specific humidity requirements?

Are they good eaters?

 

[Venom1080]

i made a thread identical to this a few months ago. i believe i named it H. davidbowie care or heteropoda davidbowie care.

 

[chanda]

I have a Malaysian Huntsman that was sold to me as H. davidbowie (though I'll admit I have my doubts - it looks just like Thelcticopis modesta to me. I suspect the vendor may have been trying to capitalize on the David Bowie publicity and just calling all of his Malaysian huntsman spiders by that name.)

Mine is a mature female (unmated, but sitting on her second egg sac right now) and she has about a 4-5" leg span. I keep her in a front-opening Exo-Terra terrarium that's about 12x12x18, with coconut fiber substrate (to hold humidity - she's never actually down on the ground) and a couple of large angled cork slabs that she can climb on. I mist the enclosure every 2-3 days, plus we keep a humidifier running in our bug/reptile room at all times to compensate for our dry desert air. Room humidity is usually around 50%.

During the daytime, she spends all her time curled up at the top of the bark. At night she is active and prowling around the cage - as long as I don't get too close. She is not the most aggressive feeder that I have, preferring to wait until after the lights are out to eat, but she doesn't usually end up with cricket roommates, either, if you know what I mean.

 

[nieksluys]

I have a Malaysian Huntsman that was sold to me as H. davidbowie (though I'll admit I have my doubts - it looks just like Thelcticopis modesta to me.

Heteropoda davidbowie was originally known as Thelcticopis modesta.

 

[grimmjowls]

i made a thread identical to this a few months ago. i believe i named it H. davidbowie care or heteropoda davidbowie care.

Not exactly the title but here's the link, @Ryuti, I'm assuming Venom meant.

 

[Ryuti]

Not exactly the title but here's the link, @Ryuti, I'm assuming Venom meant.

Yep I was just looking at it a few minutes ago actually.

 

[grimmjowls]

Yep I was just looking at it a few minutes ago actually.

Whoops. Sorry, heh.

 

[Venom1080]

oh yeah, i was pretty close..

 

[chanda]

Heteropoda davidbowie was originally known as Thelcticopis modesta.

Thanks. I had heard that from some people - but had heard from others that they were two different species. Do you know of any sources that cite the name change?

 

[Richard McJimsey]

lol wasn't i the one who said "9"?

i literally just said a random number

 

[Ryuti]

lol wasn't i the one who said "9"?

i literally just said a random number

yes shh lmao

 

[nieksluys]

yeah, Peter jaeger revisioned it. in around 2007 i believe (around that time).
theres a scientific paper online regarding it, but Peter jaeger also has a facebookpage where someone asked him, and he explained why he renamed the species after the singer.

regards,

Niek

 

[gunslinger]

I believe the paper in question may be:
Revision of the huntsman spider genus Heteropoda Latreille 1804: species with exception male palpal conformations from southeast Asia and Australia. Senckenbergiana biologica, 88: 239-310.

 

[Philth]

Thelcticopis modesta is still a valid species. The hobby was incorrectly using that name for the spider we now call H. davidbowie. That is why when you google Thelcticopis modesta, old pictures of H. davidbowie come up. P. Jäger then described H. davidbowie in 2008, but that has nothing to do with the spider described as T. modesta in 1890. It was just a name importers picked out of a hat , like they often do.

Later, Tom

 

[nieksluys]

Wow, thanks for that informastion Tom, didn't even know that, but makes sense, davidbowie looks nothing like some other Thelcticopis species i've seen around.