Pterinochilus murinus differences?

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Arachnoknight
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Apr 29, 2006
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I've been looking through pics of this sp. and I'm wondering what are the differences (if any)? I've seen some that are orange and others a tan/grey colour:? What about males and females, is one more colourful than the other?

thanks.
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
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Apr 6, 2006
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Murinus has different colour forms, malestend to be smaller than females, not really a colour difference, maybe a bit duller in sheen

NCF normal colour form aka TCF tan colour form is the kinda "original P. murinus species, it has a golden colouration all over with the starburst pattern on the carapace, this is completely terestrial and readily burrows.

UMV Usambara mountain variant, this species is best described as a cross between the colour forms NCF and RCF more tan but the longer hair have a gingery orange tint, being a described cross, it can be kept as semi arboreal but most of the time like the NCF it lives terestrially and burrows to some extent.

RCF Red Colour Form, The infamous Orange bitey thing, this is described as semi arboreal but IME is completely arboreal, making hides in the highest corners of their enclosures. Probably the most popular colour form in the hobby and more than likely what most people are talking about when they say they have a Pterinochillus murinus also known as Usambara star/sunburst, but not to be mistaken with the UMV

DCF Dark Colour Form, you will be very lucky if you see even a picture this tarantula, i will try get an image use approval off someone on another board, the tarantula is mostly black to dark grey over its entire body, but still retains the pattern on the carapace familiar to this species. i would assume this T is terestrial but i have never heard of this T being kept captively.

From another thread i posted in
 

ShadowSpectrum

Arachnoknight
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Jan 13, 2006
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HuonHengChai said:
so basically diffrent color form means diffrent enclosure setup?
No, not necessarily, P. murinus is very adaptable and will thrive in a variety of setups, but you may notice that RCFs will stay higher up, the TCFs might dig a bit more, etc.
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
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Apr 6, 2006
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NCF is a burrower, UMV is semi arboreal/terrestrial and RCF appears to be completley arboreeal, All heavy webbers
 
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