Genus Pamphobeteus

[xenesthis]

I don't know. It would be nice to have a clearinghouse for breeders and importers to publish the sources for their animals. That way it could be tracked in some systematic way. Probably the right thing to do is stop buying and selling undescribed species, but I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Or we could just accept that hybridization is going to occur in the pet trade. Afaik there are very few if any breeding programs for wild re-introduction, so some domestic divergence probably won't have much ecological impact. And the pet trade could probably benefit from the expanded gene pool anyway.

Again though, I'm not planning to breed this specimen, and am not planning to trade it away. If I do, I'll label it with the same name I was sold it under. But, like, when I tell people about the spider I'm not going to say "And this one is a Pamphobetus species insignis of the Ecuadoran variety, and not the same species as the Columbian P. insignis." I'm just gonna say "This one is an Ecuadoran Purple Bloom."

IT IS ****NOT *** Pamphobeteus insignis from Colombia. That is what you need to say, and yes, do the proper label of what it was sold to you as so we don't have, yet another, media post from somebody saying, "Can anybody tell me what species of Pamphobeteus this is? It's some kind of purple bloom".....and then, everybody responds, "What was it sold to you as? Why don't you have the original name that it was sold to you? Please don't be the 1,000 person to do that kind of post. It's really getting old and ridiculous.

> "This one is an Ecuadoran Purple Bloom.".......and, then what does that mean? Ecuadorian Purple bloom probably applies to 25+ DIFFERENT Pamphobeteus species currently. You are overly generalizing the situation and it will cause problems that what we already got with this genus. Keep the name it was sold to you as.

 

[Matt W]

OK, I didn't have a label on the enclosure before, but now I have one that says "One of the 25 different species called Ecuadoran Purple Bloom" .

Don't worry. If I give away this spider, I'll make sure the recipient knows that it was sold to me as a "Pamphobetus sp. insignis (Ecuador)". I truly dig the taxonomy and the science and really get into it. But I'd be willing to bet that even a taxonomist couldn't distinguish between the 25 different Ecuadoran Purple Bloom species given a live specimen. I'm very skeptical that P. sp. insignis (Ecuador) is a monospecific designation, unless the whole hobby population is the inbred progeny of the originally imported batch.

 

[c.h.esteban]

I have 2 little Questions and hope they are easy to answer.

@Matt W
Just for my understanding, what does "monospecific designation" mean exactly ?
I only know "monotypic", as a term in zoology. But this does not fit here.

@xenesthis
By whom and when was it checked that it really is the "real P. insignis (Colombia)"?

 

[Matt W]

@Matt W
Just for my understanding, what does "monospecific designation" mean exactly ?
I only know "monotypic", as a term in zoology. But this does not fit here.

It just means one species. As in I'm skeptical that the population of hobbyist tarantulas labelled P. sp. insignis (Ecuador) are all the same species. That is, unless they were all bred from a single pair or from a single collection event.

I know that you have some insight into the study of these tarantulas in South America. I'd love any pointers you have to research papers or even pre-print publications. I can (probably) read them in Spanish if needed.

 

[c.h.esteban]

I do not know research papers on this topic or Pamphobeteus in general which are not listed in the WSC.

I´m sorry, but to these "insignis-ecuador" i can't say anything, because i don't have had examine any specimens of them. And honestly i see no motivation or benefit to do this.
The reasons are:

1. It´s obvious that they do not fit to the description.
2. Nobody has the real geographic origin. (But this is very important because in the field there are very similar populations and between these are others, which are very different. So at the moment nobody can say if these similar but separated populations are one species, or maybe two.)
3. And last but not least, the potential mix of specimens from different populations in the hobby breed.

 

[Burebista24]

P. antious