Introducing Xenesthis sp. megaseta

[Paul Osullivan]

@Paul Osullivan as i wrote on fb...

Different species sometimes have different leg spans. That's why the leg span alone is not suitable to describe size.
And here we deal with a relation, not a single measure.
If you compare the given measurments of immanis, intermedia and monstrosus and thier relation (length leg IV / crapace length) you see what i mean.



i would prefer proper measurements for further discussions.

I completely understand what you mean and that would be best for definite. I know @Scolopeon has a good sized species tenebris, prehaps when it sheds some measurements could be taken..

 

[Scolopeon]

I completely understand what you mean and that would be best for definite. I know @Scolopeon has a good sized species tenebris, prehaps when it sheds some measurements could be taken..

Hello, yeah she’s at least 7.5” - When she sheds I’ll get you some measurements

 

[Scolopeon]

Right was bang on the money, just over 7.5” carapace 27x22 if I pressed it down lightly I got around 24 - So there you have it.
She looks to have grown another .5” and the carapace grew by a fair chunk, shown in the pic. Shame she ejected her leg, but it got a little broken a few months prior to the moult and dried hard, I pulled at the stuck leg left in the moult and it was really hard to pull out, what I got out of it was rake thin compared to the original.

 

[Paul Osullivan]

Right was bang on the money, just over 7.5” carapace 27x22 if I pressed it down lightly I got around 24 - So there you have it.
She looks to have grown another .5” and the carapace grew by a fair chunk, shown in the pic. Shame she ejected her leg, but it got a little broken a few months prior to the moult and dried hard, I pulled at the stuck leg left in the moult and it was really hard to pull out, what I got out of it was rake thin compared to the original.

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That's awesome. Would you be able to measure the leg lengths to compare the relationship to carapace size. I will draw it out to see if it's body shape is alike to Monstosus..

 

[Fitfusion021]

Holy geez! Can i ask if it’s been stablished?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Holy geez! Can i ask if it’s been stablished?

stablished? I tried looking it up confusing word.

Right was bang on the money, just over 7.5” carapace 27x22 if I pressed it down lightly I got around 24 - So there you have it.
She looks to have grown another .5” and the carapace grew by a fair chunk, shown in the pic. Shame she ejected her leg, but it got a little broken a few months prior to the moult and dried hard, I pulled at the stuck leg left in the moult and it was really hard to pull out, what I got out of it was rake thin compared to the original.

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wow what’ a giant I hoped my lp would get that big but largest one is barely over 7”. Xenesthis are lot pricier but wow !

 

[Fitfusion021]

I can’t get over this, now this species is on top of my chicken spider

 

[Paul Osullivan]

This was from a vendor post in 2020!

 

[Fitfusion021]

This was from a vendor post in 2020!

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Beautiful!!!! thank you!

 

[Scolopeon]

What’s the measurements on the monstrosa, given the size of this one I posted I would say tenebris does not look to be the same as monstrosa, too leggy. This one must be 8” now with a 28-29mm carapace.

Of course I’m only looking at your scale drawings of monstrosa vs intermida.

One thing I noticed with tenebris vs megaseta is my specimens legs are way less thick than the megaseta shown, it will be interesting to see over the next few moults as my spider is roughly 5-6 years old.

So upon looking into monstrosa it would seem they too are capable of 9+” legspan with a larger body. From what I can tell they are less colourful than other Xenethis, whether this is something that happens with the age of the spider, I’m unsure

 

[Paul Osullivan]

What’s the measurements on the monstrosa, given the size of this one I posted I would say tenebris does not look to be the same as monstrosa, too leggy. This one must be 8” now with a 28-29mm carapace.

Of course I’m only looking at your scale drawings of monstrosa vs intermida.

One thing I noticed with tenebris vs megaseta is my specimens legs are way less thick than the megaseta shown, it will be interesting to see over the next few moults as my spider is roughly 5-6 years old.

So upon looking into monstrosa it would seem they too are capable of 9+” legspan with a larger body. From what I can tell they are less colourful than other Xenethis, whether this is something that happens with the age of the spider, I’m unsure

Hi Scolopeon, Here are the Monstrosus measurements in total podomere length.

Xenesthis monstrosa Pocock, 1903, holotype female (BMNH), podomere lengths.

Leg 1: 77.3 mm
Leg 2: 73.2 mm
Leg 3: 71.8 mm
Leg 4: 89.3 mm
Palp: 49.2 mm

Carapace: Length 32.1 mm Width 28.3 mm.

Body length including chelicerae: 86.8 mm.

It also mentions that a good way to distinguish this species from Immanis and Intermedia is:

"Xenesthis monstrosa can be readily distinguished from X. immanis and
X. intermedia by the total length value of leg IV not exceeding three times that of the
carapace (leg IV being more than three times the length of the carapace in X. immanis and
X. intermedia). It is further distinguished from those taxa by the lesser number of maxillary
cuspules (60–70 vs. 150–170 in X. immanis and 90–100 in X. intermedia)".

Then Leg 4 is shorter in comparison to Immanis and Intermedia.

Scolopeon, I guess we need to know if the 29 mm carapace Length of your X sp. tenebris (when multiplied by 3)/= approximately 87 mm is more or less than the total length of leg 4?

That's interesting, it would be good to find out where the sp. megaseta came from if anyone knows?

Also A.Smith in his book mentions, X sp. monstrosa was found with a 10 cm B.l.