All male tarantulas upon their ultimate, or last molt, will emerge with palpal bulbs. These are used to "inject" stored sperm into the female upon mating. Tibial spurs/hooks are used by some tarantulas as an aid to hook the female, usually by the fangs. This will help position the male for a better shot at the female's good bits.Originally posted by Weapon-X
well heck that makes it easy, cool, thanks for the pic man, i have a question though, do haplopelma minax males have hooks or pedipals?, thanks ---jeff
I thought Avicularia is a genus, in which males did possess tibial hooks. A. versicolor was the first species I managed to breed, but it was so long ago, I can't remember.Originally posted by Midwest Art
Avic species such as versicolor do not actually have "hooks". I bought one over the summer sold as a "female" but low and behold, pedipalps. My current male versi gets the Keith Moon award for drumming, he drums with one palp and hooks with the other, then switches palps.
Mature males are fun except when you have a rare or unidentified species such as P. striata (pictured) or P. pederseni. Sometimes a date is hard to find.
N-Joy
Art