Penultimate male?

magicmed

Arachnobaron
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Jun 4, 2016
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Just wanted a little clarification, I see some references to it being the second to last of something, then I see references to it meaning the final molt. Didn't want to be guessing, forgive my ignorance.

So if it is meant as the final molt, the male should be already or near making sperms webs to breed, correct?

If it's meant as the sub finale then I would assume the male needs one more molt to be mature and ready to breed.

Now the big question, is it a gray definition? As in, should I make sure with the seller what is meant by penultimate? Or is it a relatively common term as far as last/next to last.
 

cold blood

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When a male molts into maturity, he's had his final, or ultimate molt. Only then will he have the parts to create a sperm web. A penultimate male is a male that will (or is suspected to) mature with its next molt.
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
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Jun 4, 2016
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When a male molts into maturity, he's had his final, or ultimate molt. Only then will he have the parts to create a sperm web. A penultimate male is a male that will (or is suspected to) mature with its next molt.
Thank you very much! That's what I thought, but a couple Googled threads had gotten me a tad confused.
 

DeanK

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Jun 16, 2016
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Are there any cues to tell when it may be approaching it's penultimate molt or is it just guessing due to it's size?
 

Trenor

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From my understanding it's really just a guess. I have seen a lot of people who bought penultimate males who have molted without maturing. It just looks to be about the right size to mature on the next molt.
 

edesign

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Gonna necro this post but only because I ran across something related earlier this evening while researching Psalmopoeus and subsequently ran across this post searching for penultimate male ha. I too had heard it being described both ways as OP said and didn't think there was two defs.

Regarding how to tell a penultimate male Gabriel commented in a paper that he published in 2014 that a "basally thickened tarsus segment", in reference to the pedipalps, was a characteristic of a penultimate male because of the palpal bulb developing. He showed photos of the palps of penultimate A. diversipes (now Y. diversipes) and an unconfirmed P. ecclesiasticus to illustrate.

Gabriel, R. (2014a). Revised taxonomic position of Psalmopoeus rufus Petrunkevitch, 1925 and Psalmopoeus affinis Strand, 1907 (Araneae: Theraphosidae). British Tarantula Society Journal 29(3): 132-137
 
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