Our Chicken Hunting Spider Thread

[xenesthis]

Chicken spider = P. antinous?

When I worked for Glades Herp in the mid and late 1990's, Peru was open and shipping thousands of Ts out. Pamphobeteus antinous was collected within 50 miles of Pulcapa, Peru and Iquitos according to a shipper. The black Pamphobetus sp. with the lower half of it's abdomen covered in reddish-brown hairs was P. antinous. The other Pamphobeteus that came out of these shipments that had the whole abdomen covered with reddish-brown hairs was P. nigricolor. This was according to Rick West. Then, after 2000, he switched the ID criteria with no explantion. That didn't go well with the original description that I read for P. antinous.

After looking at Lelle and Sheri's photos, these Pamphobeteus are a dead-ringer for the P. antinous collected near Pulcapa. Possibly they are a geographic varient getting larger in the Madre de Dios region, but they sure look like P. antinous to me.

Todd

 

[Crotalus]

Except the thick legs, aswell as the carapace shape. And no blue shining legs as far as I could see.

Todd, do you have any pictures of the ones that came in from Pulcalpa?

/Lelle

 

[king7]

WOW!!!

awsome pics!i was really enjoying this thread <edit>

EVERY credit to those who were involved in taking the pics :clap: must have been an amazing trip,please post more

 

[Sheri]

After looking at Lelle and Sheri's photos, these Pamphobeteus are a dead-ringer for the P. antinous collected near Pulcapa. Possibly they are a geographic varient getting larger in the Madre de Dios region, but they sure look like P. antinous to me.

Todd

Just wondering if anyone has observed communal burrow sharing with P. antinous? I know that their burrows can be found in extreme close proximity to one another (30cms)...

Regardless, they were damn cool spiders and I'd trade a clutch of immanis to go hang out with them again.

 

[M.F.Bagaturov]

I never was at Tambopatha or even any closer to that part of Peru but I was at Lima for business and have some free time for shopping...
I've found several places which sell framed inverts and even bats... there was two 3 different types of tarantulas - Lasiodorides stratus (1 оr 2 specimens) and two of Pampho are in numbers - P. antinous and the notoriouse "Chicken Spider" - they look very closer but some different too. I think that this Chicken spider was in hobby from export Peru about 8-10 years ago in US at least and some were sold by the name as P. antinous in Europe (Chech) near that time too... at least one was brough to Russia too...
So... according to locals (sellers of this stuff) they are taken (both Pamphos) in numbers for framed and sell to people around all the time... so must be a lot of framed dryed Chicken Spiders all over the world hanging on the walls in flats...
I wonder why it is not known for sciense yet...
I know this is rather vasty question... but the situation goes as this...

 

[kap]

Very interesting pix ! :clap:

I saw a video on TV with a guy from the BTS who went in Peru and found the Chicken Hunting Spider.
He tolds me the sp concerned was in fact Pampho antinous. The tarantulas on your pix looks a lot to antinous too.

Are you sure it is an undescribed sp ? :?

Kap

 

[Sheri]

Very interesting pix ! :clap:

I saw a video on TV with a guy from the BTS who went in Peru and found the Chicken Hunting Spider.
He tolds me the sp concerned was in fact Pampho antinous. The tarantulas on your pix looks a lot to antinous too.

Are you sure it is an undescribed sp ? :?

Kap

Quote from a PBS interview with Martin Nicholas (not sure when the date of the interview is);
Is the chicken-eating spider a new species?

We don't know yet. I would like to get it properly identified. There are two or three other large black tarantulas that live in the area.

I have some more information on this, but it is stored at home right now... more soon.
Sheri

 

[xenesthis]

P. antinous pics

Lelle,

Here are some P. antinous pics. One photo is yours Lelle (I'm sure that is P. antinous). The mature male was from Pulcapa, Peru. The females don't show the blue-violet, just the mature males.

Todd

 

[xenesthis]

Chicken spider, Pamphobeteus sp.

Martin's photos posted in the BTS Journal a few yrs. old showed these "chicken spiders" to have thicker legs than the Pulcapa P. antinous and even freshly-molted, they seemed more brown than black.

My bet: These chicken spiders are just a southern, geographical varient of P. antinous.

Todd

 

[Sheri]

P. antinous displays the christmas tree pattern as a juvenile, I believe.
Whereas the CHS apparently does not, though I don't believe this is a hard and fast fact...

I know that it is speculated that the CHS is a regional variant of P. antinous, but I do not believe that this has been at all confirmed...

As for Glades Herp, I found the following pics of unclassified pamphs on their site;
http://www.gherp.com/gallery/spider/9.jpg
http://www.gherp.com/gallery/spider/14.JPG

And a very interesting BTS chat transcript from 2002 entitled; "The Hunt for the Chicken Hunting Spider".


There was also a species that hit the hobby referred to as; Pamphobeteus sp. "backfire" that was described by Schmidt in 2002 as Pamphobeteus petersi. Thanks to Martin Huber for relaying that information to me.

P. petersi

The text beneath the picture is translated as follows;

This very beautiful bird spider is relatively new. I got it only two
times. In December 1999 I received only an individual animal, in March
2000 got I those 10. She comes, like so many other new kinds, from the
border area between Peru and Ecuador. There is rain forest
inhabitants. The fire-red Abdominalbehaarung is particularly
remarkable. It is quite large with well 8 cm and shows typical
Pamphobeteus behavior.

The kind became so far as Pamphobeteus FR. "Backfire" acted. In
August 2002 it was described by Dr. Guenter Schmidt in both
sexes.

 

[Tangled WWWeb]

P. antinous displays the christmas tree pattern as a jeuvenile, I believe.
Whereas the CHS apparently does not, though I don't believe this is a hard and fast fact...[/I]

Sheri,

If this is a fact then quite a few of the CB P. antinous that are in the US hobby are not really P. antinous. I have received very small spiderlings in 2 different years as P. antinous and none of them had the "christmas tree" pattern. I raised one of these males to maturity (the one I use in some of my logos) and he definitely looked like every other "P. antinous" I have ever seen-- in person or in photos.

As for P. petersi , I bought one of the spiderlings that were being sold as Pamphobeteus sp. "backfire" in '03. It is now a sub-adult female that looks similar to the one in the link, and at certain stages, remarkably similar to the ones in your pics. She never had a "christmas tree" either. She did, however, have a "V" on the carapace that the spiderlings that I bought as P. antinous did not. The "V" marking faded with each molt and does not appear to be visible now.

John

 

[Sheri]

Sheri,

If this is a fact then quite a few of the CB P. antinous that are in the US hobby are not really P. antinous. I have received very small spiderlings in 2 different years as P. antinous and none of them had the "christmas tree" pattern. I raised one of these males to maturity (the one I use in some of my logos) and he definitely looked like every other "P. antinous" I have ever seen-- in person or in photos.

As for P. petersi , I bought one of the spiderlings that were being sold as Pamphobeteus sp. "backfire" in '03. It is now a sub-adult female that looks similar to the one in the link, and at certain stages, remarkably similar to the ones in your pics. She never had a "christmas tree" either. She did, however, have a "V" on the carapace that the spiderlings that I bought as P. antinous did not. The "V" marking faded with each molt and does not appear to be visible now.

John

Thanks John...
I was searching for P. antinous juvenile pictures and was not very successful.
Perhaps someone can clear this up for us... I have never kept this species, at any size. I do have sp. "bolivia", sp. "peru", and platyomma.

I will contact you in regard to the sp. "backfire" you have shortly.

Sheri

 

[kap]

Hi,

I have an adult female of Pampho sp Back fire and it is quite different from antinous (in the juvenile stade, they have red hairs on the bottom of the abdomen,they lost this red hairs when being adult. They are not so black as antinous but more grey.

I have another Pampho sp Rio Negro female which really looks to antinous but has two small pink dots after molt (only) close to the eyes.
It looks to the first Pampho sp pix of Xenesthis published upstairs.

I try to mate it with an antinous male but it doesn't works...
Different sp ?
Kap

 

[Crotalus]

I have another Pampho sp Rio Negro female which really looks to antinous but has two small pink dots after molt (only) close to the eyes.
It looks to the first Pampho sp pix of Xenesthis published upstairs.

I try to mate it with an antinous male but it doesn't works...
Different sp ?
Kap

Pink dots like this one?

/Lelle

 

[GoTerps]

Sheri, If this is a fact then quite a few of the CB P. antinous that are in the US hobby are not really P. antinous. I have received very small spiderlings in 2 different years as P. antinous and none of them had the "christmas tree" pattern. I raised one of these males to maturity (the one I use in some of my logos) and he definitely looked like every other "P. antinous" I have ever seen-- in person or in photos.

I agree John,

I recieved a few P. antinous slings imported in '03 that didn't show the Xmas tree pattern.

I got them at 2nd-instar and they were about 1.25" in size. I didn't get a picture of that size, but with the next molt, at 3rd-instar they looked like this...

That particular specimen is now a sub-adult male.

Ventral shot of the same spider...

 

[kap]

Crotalus :
No, the pinks dots are smaller like coma and situated upstairs the eyes

Goterps :
The sp on your pix Pampho sp Backfire

Kap

 

[GoTerps]

The sp on your pix Pampho sp Backfire

How do you know? You can tell from 1 picture of a ~4" male?

And it could still be simply a type of P. antinous.

If that's not a P. antinous, and is indeed what your calling "sp. backfire"... then a crapload of what we have in the U.S. is just that.... as this came from a P. antinous shipment that was distributed to quite a few individuals.

 

[Tangled WWWeb]

Not that pics will help much but...

The first pic is of the spider that I bought as P. sp. "Backfire" as a juvenile. She has since lost the "V".

The second is of one of the many specimens that I bought as P. antinous. He was about a molt ahead of the spider in the first pic at the time of the photo.

 

[GoTerps]

Interesting pics John.

That "V" pattern that's on your "hellfire" has never been present on any of the specimens I've purchased as P. antinous, even when freshly molted.

Here's another picture... of a freshly molted juvenile of what I have as P. antinous. Just for discussions sake.

 

[Tangled WWWeb]

Interesting pics John.

That "V" pattern that's on your "hellfire" has never been present on any of the specimens I've purchased as P. antinous, even when freshly molted.

Mine either.

I spoke a little too soon concerning that pattern on the carapace of my "backfire". I just dug her up, and I can still see that "V" or arrow shaped marking. Other than that she looks very similar to the 5 P. antinous that I have. I got 3 of these as CB slings and the other 2 as (what I presume to be) WC adults in '99 and '00.

John