Species Hysterocrates hercules

[jbm150]

The carapace is really round, not really like a Hysterocrates. Maybe Phoneyusa? Here's an example. I don't know if they're found in Niger or not....

 

[grayzone]

That t is B.A. i like the stocky, tough look of it. I hope you figure out what it is, so i can add one to my wishlist

 

[arachnidsrva]

awesome suggestion - question though ... I can't tell if it has the gold bands around the ends of the femur

I'll checkout some more photos of them - my other concern is color - I have three and they're all in different stages - but they're all very dark - not so much brown

regardless... I want not aware of this species. thank you

---------- Post added 04-20-2012 at 06:02 PM ----------

you can scratch it off your wish-list - i'll ship you one if you can help me figure it out

 

[syndicate]

Im going by location from where they came and images of several different Hystocrates species,

I am going with Hystocrates simply because I can't find anything closer -

.

These look nothing like Hystocrates to me..

Maybe Phoneyusa?

This was also my first thought but I am more of an Asian spider guy..African stuff I don't know to much about!

How did you get spiders from Niger anyways?
-Chris

 

[jbm150]

You might send Patrick (presumably him) a message and some photos, if you already haven't. I'm a fan of his FB page for his baboon spiders book. I know he's more South African T specialized but he may have some idea or be able to put you in contact with others.

That's just one species of Phoneyusa, undescribed. There are pics of rufilata on West's site and pics of what maybe is manicata on google. Take all that with a grain of salt....


If these are indeed Phoneyusa, I should think there should be attempt to breed them before they pass. If it can be determined that what you have is of one species, that is

Edit: I, for one, would loooove to have one of these Ts. But not at the expense of them not being identified and bred in the US hobby first

 

[arachnidsrva]

They were an import from Niger -

here is an image i found of an H. ederi - now of course this is a random picture off the internet... but regardless I see a huge similarity

 

[arachnidsrva]

You sir are one of the many reasons why I use this forum. Thank you so much.

Let's breed them - I let them all dig very deep to take a break yesterday..

I plan on digging them out after the weekend and seeing if I have any males... let's cross our fingers on the 5 that are enroute.

Regardless - I will shoot photo's of all of them so we can do a cross comparison -

 

[jbm150]

They're your spiders and you can do what you want but Id really suggest you ID them first. If they aren't the same species, all of your males may get munched and then where will you be. There's no hurry so figure you what you have, then go from there. You want to have the best chance of success

 

[sjl197]

I'd suggest put at least one aside to send to Richard Gallon, as he's the best i'd suggest to get some sort of identification on them. Save moults as and when you get them, and record which individuals the moults are from incase you have a mix of species in your imports. Get some good quality 70% ethanol or IMS from for example your local university/school and be prepared to preserve any mature males you have after mating.

Matching photographs on the internet is not how to make an identification. Reading up on the literature on the species of the zone and consulting with a competent taxonomist is how to do this. Be prepared to save moults (hopefully they dont all get mangled) and sacrifice specimens. Also consult with the people at the other-end making the export - and get the information on their collection as exact as possible, very important to know if they were all collected at same time, same area, and very important to relate that information to the taxonomist/s.

Myself and plenty of others here can put you in contact with Richard Gallon for example, or he might stumble across the thread himself. The OP could also just open one of his published papers and get him email. Maybe you emailed him already.

 

[arachnidsrva]

i am digging for Richard Gallons email addy - anyone have it?

 

[mcluskyisms]

richardgallon@thebts.co.uk

 

[Big B]

That t is B.A. i like the stocky, tough look of it. I hope you figure out what it is, so i can add one to my wishlist

I want one as well....whatever they are. =)

 

[arachnidsrva]

I went and shot some updated photos - and i shot all 3 specimens separately.

I'll shoot the other five next week - haven't even really looked at them much

Please checkout my new thread under this same section - let me know what you think please.

 

[Kyle]

Real Hercules!?

Wow! I am in no way an expert but I have had several Hysterocrates over the years and some of my big wc females had big blocky builds like that, but they just didnt have quite a huge a carapace! Their hind legs werent enlarged either, so that leads me to believe this is indeed Hysterocrates. I remember seeing pictures of scepticus on some website years ago and those spiders had a strong resemblance to this spider, just a bit darker in color, but similar giant carapace and huge chelicerae. I could be wrong but I always remember that the key difference between gigas and hercules was the carapace size. Does anyone else remember that? I would love to hear what Rick West would have to say about this. Please keep us updated on any new info!!!!!!!

-Kyle

 

[Kyle]

Just one thing, saying that no Hysterocrates hercules been imported or not is impossible to tell, how can we know what African export at all time, especially when no Hysterocrates sp. are idable, heh.

This said, it would be very great that you share your observation of this specimen, im very curious

Good point, not to mention the so called "experts" cant I.D. them from Adam either, lol!!!

 

[arachnidsrva]

The Afrikans found more! - this one looks obviously male (ventrally as well)



it also really reminds me more of a gigas - what do you think?
we have... 2 living females - 2 unsexed (smaller) - 1 male (pictured below) - 1 dead one and two molts


the plan is to send the dead one and the molts to richard gallon

The big female that i previously posted molted three days ago - i'll be shooting pictures tomorrow


the upload function is also not working currently, i've downsized the pic and changed the format. i'll try tomorrow : /

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

If you Have a REAL H hercules it would be over 10-11" inches with a Thick carpace like T Blondi / apoythysis :biggrin:
Dosnt the King baboon get to around 7-9" inches? thats pretty large
I didnt think H hercules was even in existence let alone T hobby.

 

[arachnidsrva]

That's where your wrong - there was a point where the hercules were imported by the truckload.

I've heard that same line "they don't exist in the hobby" over and over again. It's people just regurgitating what they read.


I've gotten this information from one of the few people that originally helped to bring Tarantulas here in the U.S. - For a while the gigas and hercules were coming over by the truckload. Everything of course used to be wayyy bigger. I've also heard this directly from various distributors/wholesalers.


I got an email back from Richard Gallon, who say's it's probably hysterocrates - he's requesting a dead one and a molt.

I am very very excited! Now I will celebrate with pictures!

this one is male

 

[Philth]

That's where your wrong - there was a point where the hercules were imported by the truckload.

I've heard that same line "they don't exist in the hobby" over and over again. It's people just regurgitating what they read.


I've gotten this information from one of the few people that originally helped to bring Tarantulas here in the U.S.

Did this person compare what he had to the type specimen ? How did they determine it was the real hercules? I highly doubt wholesalers or importers took the time to travel to the BMNH, and had access to the type specimen to examine it. Sounds like a lot of hearsay. How long ago were these truck loads coming in? Maybe H. hercules has been in the hobby, maybe it hasn't, but how did they prove it?

I happy to hear Richard got back to you, that's an exciting start.

Later, Tom

 

[BrettG]

Keep me in the loop Aaron,I have a dead one in the freezer.Maybe we can find out what this damn thing is besides a big black pissed off spider.