Rattlesnake Tarantula

[jbm150]

How big do they max out at? It's fascinating that they don't appear to have any close relatives in Australia. Keep us updated, Aussie Ts are so interesting. Little brown jobbie or not

 

[Mamisha-X]

I guess she doesn't like the tweezers.

I would have to agree 100% on that haha :}

 

[pato_chacoana]

very cool stridulation !! steve, do they make it louder than Theraphosa species? anyway, it's true that they make a unique kind of stridulation... haven't heard anything quite like it!

cheers,
pato

 

[Steve Nunn]

Hi guys,
I think the biggest one found to date is only about 3.5" or so, quite small. The sound is LOUD. @ Pato, I'm not sure if it would be as loud as T.blondi, but I suspect so. The stridulating hiss is at least twice to three times as loud as the Aussie stridulators (among the most developed/large stridulating organs in Selenocosmiinae), and some of those are fairly ready to make the sounds when provoked.

Maybe one day they will be exported, but it will depend on Australia's ever tightening hold on exports, and if I could CB the group to 2nd gen. in time. Laws in Australia will be changing shortly. That's a LOT of if's, I only have one specimen myself at present, most were sold into the hobby before I knew they had hit the market over here, so I never had the chance to buy a breeding group from the suppliers. From what I understand, the guys who sold them kept enough themselves to plan to CB these for the Aussie hobby. Maybe one day, but I can't see I'll get hold of enough to CB to 2nd gen. any time soon

As for exports, I have one immediate export planned for Denmark/France/Germany, but that is private to a group of friends (not a reseller deal), I'm not sure if any of those guys will be selling any of the animals. After that, I seriously doubt I will export the Aussie spiders again, the permits are costly and the sales are just not stable enough to sustain the costs of maintaining the state and federal permits. This last permit application was difficult to say the least (export permits must be renewed every 6 months), I won't go into the complications here, but I don't plan on going through that again.

So, I'd really, really, really suggest anybody who has any Australian T's from my old exports band together to try and preserve them in the international hobby I'm sure the Phlogius specimens will be fine, but the Selenotypus may be LOT harder to breed, once those ones reach maturity.

Steve

 

[zonbonzovi]

I seriously doubt I will export the Aussie spiders again, the permits are costly and the sales are just not stable enough to sustain the costs of maintaining the state and federal permits. This last permit application was difficult to say the least (export permits must be renewed every 6 months), I won't go into the complications here, but I don't plan on going through that again.

So, I'd really, really, really suggest anybody who has any Australian T's from my old exports band together to try and preserve them in the international hobby I'm sure the Phlogius specimens will be fine, but the Selenotypus may be LOT harder to breed, once those ones reach maturity.

Steve

Sorry, just figured this needed emphasis. Wanted to thank you, as well, for going through the work that you did to provide these to the hobby outside of Oz. I'm pretty new to Phlogius but they really are quite fascinating and underrated. It's too bad that they are commonly seen as "just another brown tarantula". Coolest slings I've raised yet.

 

[dactylus]

Steve,

Can you tell us if this genus/species has been officially described yet? Very interesting group of "yet to be described" genera.

Thank you.

Hi,
This is perhaps one of the most interesting spiders from the entire Selenocosmiinae. It does not fit ANY known Australian genus, it is not closest related to other Australian genera, but nearer related to other Selenocosmiinae (can't elaborate for now) not found anywhere near Australia. The name is actually quite descriptive, when you hear one of these things stridulate it is ridiculous, the sound of a rattlesnake, hence the name. I think the name very appropriate actually, but common names, well, yeah, how good is any common name. It's no overestimation of the sound either, it's remarkable. If you haven't listened to that video, I'd suggest you do so, it's very interesting, no other tarantula is as noisy as this species. Further, they stridulate at any given opportunity. Where other species hardly ever make an aubible sound, this species is the opposite. I think a guy called Jason made that video, not sure, but that is the new species and the common name is more apt than some common names

They are smallish, but absolutely unique on many levels. From a taxonomic aspect, they are more than just fascinating, they are a key group to better understand selenocosmiine biogeography. Dr Raven will be covering these eventually, there is more than one species known to him from this group.

But whatever you do, don't write these off as just another little brown jobbie

 

[zonbonzovi]

^After having searched about for an answer to that very question recently, it seems that Dr. Raven is still working on it. Haven't even found an abstract. Steve or the Queensland Museum may have more details, though.

 

[Zoltan]

Steve,

Can you tell us if this genus/species has been officially described yet? Very interesting group of "yet to be described" genera.

Thank you.

Not published yet as far as I'm aware.

 

[GxTx]

Wow, that video was great, ive heard an OBT hiss, but thats something else right there hahaha.