Maturity

Venom1080

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Females spermathcae turns black, or sclereotized. Males develop typical mature male characteristics. Tibial hooks (some species), and bulbous pedipalps. They also turn rather leggy, and are usually small compared to the female. At least in mass.
 

AphonopelmaTX

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Females spermathcae turns black, or sclereotized. Males develop typical mature male characteristics. Tibial hooks (some species), and bulbous pedipalps. They also turn rather leggy, and are usually small compared to the female. At least in mass.
But what about when a female tarantula has weakly sclerotized spermatheca, partially sclerotized (as in Avicularia species), or doesn't have spermatheca at all? :troll:
 

Venom1080

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But what about when a female tarantula has weakly sclerotized spermatheca, partially sclerotized (as in Avicularia species), or doesn't have spermatheca at all? :troll:
Wow, I've never heard of mature females with semi sclereotized spermathcae. Got some examples of how that looks?
 

Liquifin

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But what about when a female tarantula has weakly sclerotized spermatheca, partially sclerotized (as in Avicularia species), or doesn't have spermatheca at all? :troll:
I'm guessing by semi-sclerotized spermathecae, you mean like the N. incei as an example??
 

AphonopelmaTX

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Wow, I've never heard of mature females with semi sclereotized spermathcae. Got some examples of how that looks?
I'm guessing by semi-sclerotized spermathecae, you mean like the N. incei as an example??
Since I didn't use the word "semi" in my response, I'm not sure which word I did use to mean the same. I am assuming semi-sclerotized means the same as "weakly sclerotized" so I will go with that. I will provide some definitions and examples from the taxonomic literature for illustrations. It would be too time consuming for me to go searching Google and this site for good examples.

Weakly Scelortized: Spermatheca will be light tan to peach in color. Example genera which have weakly scleortized spermatheca: Aphonopelma and Grammostola. For high quality images of what this looks like see the "Taxonomic Revision of the Aphonopelma within the USA". Online Even the image of the Acanthoscurria geniculata spermatheca posted by @The Grym Reaper above can be categorized as "weakly sclerotized."

Non Scelortized: Spermatheca with no sclerotization appear clear or milky white in color. The best example I can think of off of the top of my head is Avicularia minatrix.
Partially Scleortized: When a spermatheca is mostly non sclerotized, but part is to some degree. Most Avicularia species fit in this category, but one example is Avicularia avicularia. For high quality images of 'non' and 'partial' see the "Taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of Avicularia". Online

Strongly Scelortized: Spermatheca that are strongly sclerotized appear dark brown to black in color. Some researchers don't use this term but instead just say "scelortized." Think of the genera Homoeomma, Chromatopelma, or Davus.

The terms I am using are a bit subjective and only make sense when comparing spermatheca of many different species.

The point I was getting at in my previous post was that a simple question like "how do I tell when my tarantula is mature?" isn't so simple for females. Scelortization starts appearing in early instars and the level of such is finalized long before sexual maturity. You can see that in the spermatheca sexing gallery for Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens.
 

Venom1080

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Since I didn't use the word "semi" in my response, I'm not sure which word I did use to mean the same. I am assuming semi-sclerotized means the same as "weakly sclerotized" so I will go with that. I will provide some definitions and examples from the taxonomic literature for illustrations. It would be too time consuming for me to go searching Google and this site for good examples.

Weakly Scelortized: Spermatheca will be light tan to peach in color. Example genera which have weakly scleortized spermatheca: Aphonopelma and Grammostola. For high quality images of what this looks like see the "Taxonomic Revision of the Aphonopelma within the USA". Online Even the image of the Acanthoscurria geniculata spermatheca posted by @The Grym Reaper above can be categorized as "weakly sclerotized."

Non Scelortized: Spermatheca with no sclerotization appear clear or milky white in color. The best example I can think of off of the top of my head is Avicularia minatrix.
Partially Scleortized: When a spermatheca is mostly non sclerotized, but part is to some degree. Most Avicularia species fit in this category, but one example is Avicularia avicularia. For high quality images of 'non' and 'partial' see the "Taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of Avicularia". Online

Strongly Scelortized: Spermatheca that are strongly sclerotized appear dark brown to black in color. Some researchers don't use this term but instead just say "scelortized." Think of the genera Homoeomma, Chromatopelma, or Davus.

The terms I am using are a bit subjective and only make sense when comparing spermatheca of many different species.

The point I was getting at in my previous post was that a simple question like "how do I tell when my tarantula is mature?" isn't so simple for females. Scelortization starts appearing in early instars and the level of such is finalized long before sexual maturity. You can see that in the spermatheca sexing gallery for Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens.
Informative as usual, thanks.
 

Vanessa

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Damn. Baffled but informed.
If you want visuals of what was discussed above, you can look through the spermathecae album for those species mentioned at sizes around the 5" mark. People should be labeling all photos with the species and size, since that information is relevant. Some people, myself included, will label their spermathecae photos as 'mature' if the females are mature. Some people use that album to ask if they have a mature female. You can do a search on the names of the species and take a look - I will guarantee that you will come across examples of every single one mentioned above. The photo albums here are an excellent source for comparison purposes.
 
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