Poecilotheria subfusca clarification

martin hogue

martin hogue

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hi !
im a little confuse with this species. Anyone can help?

from what i understand :

there is subfusca > (lowland aka bara )+ highland (big and small )
i recently learn about sp sri lanka ( pascal leslier) where this one fit. how many subspecies of subfusca there is and if someone could show me how to sort them ittl be amazing :D
 
Nightstalker47

Nightstalker47

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Hi Martin, as far as I know, there are only two subfusca variants. The lowland and the highland form, with the lowland being the larger of the two.

Welcome to the forums.
 
A

AphonopelmaTX

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I can't help but to wonder where the name Poecilotheria sp. "Sri Lanka" and the specimen came from. Was the one pictured the offspring of wild caught individuals that share the same odd abdominal pattern? Or perhaps this one in particular was the result of captive breeding of Poecilotheria subfusca but since it has a strange abdominal marking, someone decided to call it Poecilotheria sp. "Sri Lanka". Maybe the unusual abdominal marking is the result of many generations of inbreeding in captivity.

People have the tendency to question a species identity when a specimen's colors or markings don't fit nicely with what is expected resulting in a new variant on the pet trade or even a new species. I have my doubts the Poecilotheria pictured here is distinct from a known species.
 
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Venom1080

Venom1080

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martin hogue said:
Got this one as sp.sri lanka
Click to expand...
I'd say lowland with reasonable confidence..

There's a bunch of stuff about how abdomen patterns can tell them apart.. but there's so much variation between specimens of the same species ime. I think hybridization is a big reason why.

GENERALLY, Highland is darker and smaller, and lowland is much lighter and considerably larger.

Ive seen Andrew Smith post how early dna work shows they are different species.

There's a few videos on YouTube of both species in their natural habitat. The simple visual differences are obvious.

Bara is not a viable name. Poecilotheria Bara is Poecilotheria subfusca Lowland.

Micheal Jacobi wrote a article about his thoughts on the matter. Stating it is NOT a revision.
https://www.mjacobi.com/publications/

Scroll down. Lots of cool articles there actually
 
martin hogue

martin hogue

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AphonopelmaTX said:
I can't help but to wonder where the name Poecilotheria sp. "Sri Lanka" and the specimen came from. Was the one pictured the offspring of wild caught individuals that share the same odd abdominal pattern? Or perhaps this one in particular was the result of captive breeding of Poecilotheria subfusca but since it has a strange abdominal marking, someone decided to call it Poecilotheria sp. "Sri Lanka". Maybe the unusual abdominal marking is the result of many generations of inbreeding in captivity.

People have the tendency to question a species identity when a specimen's colors or markings don't fit nicely with what is expected resulting in a new variant on the pet trade or even a new species. I have my doubts the Poecilotheria pictured here is distinct from a known species.
Click to expand...

i dont know if its an hybrid tbh ! i did found some picture, was trying to find some more answers. i only did some research with the tag poecilotheria sp srilanka.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/atojar/22695670214/in/photostream/
/www.flickr.com/photos/47745688@N05/35375566410/

Nightstalker47 said:
Did Martin and Amanda offer any insight on the name?
Click to expand...
sp sri lanka ( pascal leslier) is what she told me. she said its close to subfusca.

Venom1080 said:
I'd say lowland with reasonable confidence..

There's a bunch of stuff about how abdomen patterns can tell them apart.. but there's so much variation between specimens of the same species ime. I think hybridization is a big reason why.

GENERALLY, Highland is darker and smaller, and lowland is much lighter and considerably larger.

Ive seen Andrew Smith post how early dna work shows they are different species.

There's a few videos on YouTube of both species in their natural habitat. The simple visual differences are obvious.

Bara is not a viable name. Poecilotheria Bara is Poecilotheria subfusca Lowland.

Micheal Jacobi wrote a article about his thoughts on the matter. Stating it is NOT a revision.
https://www.mjacobi.com/publications/

Scroll down. Lots of cool articles there actually
Click to expand...
hey thanks for this ! i will take a look for sure !!!!
 
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martin hogue

martin hogue

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i know its not listed. they had a few specimens too. if i cant find more onto it its cool anyway. im happy with this purchase, but im coming back from a long break in this hobby there so many species now i wanted to get as many infos i could. I love the subfusca and looking foward to get all the forms i can.
 
Theneil

Theneil

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Not sure if this helps any but in Tarantulas of the world page 449 has a picture of sp srilanka.

on page 77 there is a chart (about venom quantity) that says in the "Genus and species" column "Poecilotheria sp Sri Lanka = sp bara" and i *believe* bara is subfusca lowland.

Full disclosure: i haven't actually read the book, just stumbled onto the above when thumbing through so, i cannot say anything for context.
 
martin hogue

martin hogue

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Theneil said:
Not sure if this helps any but in Tarantulas of the world page 449 has a picture of sp srilanka.

on page 77 there is a chart (about venom quantity) that says in the "Genus and species" column "Poecilotheria sp Sri Lanka = sp bara" and i *believe* bara is subfusca lowland.

Full disclosure: i haven't actually read the book, just stumbled onto the above when thumbing through so, i cannot say anything for context.
Click to expand...
awesome info man ! i did read sumthing close to this on forums! where sp srilanka was sometimes stated as lowland. the shop were i got here were very confident it wasnt either hl or low. so il realy keep her as Sp. but its nice to know wich species to associate with :)

The Grym Reaper said:
Looks like the subfusca lowland male I had (bar the wonky markings)

View media item 47260View media item 46645
Click to expand...
mine is definately close to the second picture
 
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