Self Autotomy-Another T Miracle!!!

MizM

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These little critters never cease to amaze and fascinate me. The g. pulchra injured in the cat accident (different thread, but wanted THIS one to be about autotomy) came out of icu and went back in to her enclosure. Caught her drinking, she was doin' great. I looked in on her today and found that she had dropped the right pedipalp! It must have been internanlly injured very badly and I didn't know it. I take this as a sign that her body is well enough to reject the offending injury. WOW, this is the first time I have witnessed this and it's SUCH an amazing thing!! I call her "Lefty" now, but I think she's gonna be fine!:D

P.S. Robert Breene's Paper on the subject refers to it as "autotomy" AND "autonomy"... I'm thinking one is a typo?:?

THE OFFENDING PALP:
 

RugbyDave

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dr.breene is an amazing man.

anyone who lets you call them out of the blue and then procedes to talk and talk and talk with you, is top quality in my book. If I had to grade Dr.Breene, he'd get an A... maybe an A+ but he'd have to really show me some stuff... and not in a dirty way.

and consequently terri, um... way to go :) glad nothing horrible was lost out of the accident.

goin to grab a cold one and burger,
dave "i'm glad my name isn't howard" ross



p.s - ironically, i think you should take a picture of your T and then a picture of you with your hands in the air looking scared (just wait, i'll explain...),only scale yourself down alot and place it over the pic of the T, so it looks like your infront of the T, running away in fear, with your hands up.. and the T will look like its 50 feet high.

no point, but i feel like if i saw that now, it'd be just about the funniest thing i could think of today.
 
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MizM

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Have you ALREADY had a few cold ones?=D That visual IS doable, just gotta find a pic of me!
 

RugbyDave

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nope, no beers....








...
yet ;)

i can send you a pic of me looking like i'm fleeing in terror.. would that work.

Also, about the leg, did you watch it happen, or did you just happen upon a still writhing leg?

on another note, my usumabara sling that was on the lam came back today. i found it dead next to some wet towels. What made me think of it from your story was the fat that it must have just died since i found 2 legs 'autotomized' next to it, still wrigling...

i wonder if Ts, in the throes of death, will cast off legs in nature? did i stumble across some hidden T action? probably not. :)
 

MORBIUS

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MizM,
Does this mean that the culprit kitty has been taken off death row? Or is the jury still out.
 

Steve Nunn

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Originally posted by MizM


P.S. Robert Breene's Paper on the subject refers to it as "autotomy" AND "autonomy"... I'm thinking one is a typo?:?
Hi Terri,
No, they are indeed two different terms. Autotomy is when the spider removes the limb, autonomy is where the spider removes the limb and procedes to eat it.

Oh, I'd mirror RD's thoughts on Breene, he's always been there to offer the best advice possible. Breene is a rare one, after all how many other Phd's do you know who'll take so much time out to communicate with hobbyists. If only there were more like him, this hobby would be in a far better situation then it is now. Mind you, I'd never tell him this. ;)

Cheers,
Steve
 

MizM

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Re: Re: Self Autotomy-Another T Miracle!!!

Originally posted by Steve Nunn
Hi Terri,
No, they are indeed two different terms. Autotomy is when the spider removes the limb, autonomy is where the spider removes the limb and procedes to eat it.

Oh, I'd mirror RD's thoughts on Breene, he's always been there to offer the best advice possible. Breene is a rare one, after all how many other Phd's do you know who'll take so much time out to communicate with hobbyists. If only there were more like him, this hobby would be in a far better situation then it is now. Mind you, I'd never tell him this. ;)

Cheers,
Steve
Ah, the cloud is lifting. Thank you so much. So, this was a case of AUTOTOMY. She carefully wrapped it in silk and left it outside the door of her flower pot hide.

Our Tom Prentice at the University of California Riverside, who is "THE" expert on our little local species, a. eutelynum and a. steindachnari, is also a wonderful guy. The first time I called him, he spent 45 minutes talking about our little Ts and answered every question I had. Of course, when you love Ts as much as we all do, gettng someone to actually LISTEN when we talk about them is a great thing too!

And you too are always one to jump in when help is needed.... you cleared up my confutsion on THIS post... and have gave us all lots of useful info. One great thing about T people, we are all so willing to communicate. THANKS!!=D
 

Steve Nunn

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Re: Re: Re: Self Autotomy-Another T Miracle!!!

Originally posted by MizM

Our Tom Prentice at the University of California Riverside, who is "THE" expert on our little local species, a. eutelynum and a. steindachnari, is also a wonderful guy.
Ahhh, Tom's work on the theraphosids is excellent. He has without a doubt written the best theraphosid species description (Aphonopelma paloma) to date. If only all taxonomists and enthusiasts alike could follow Tom's footsteps, theraphosid taxonomy wouldn't be in the mess it is today. For a "resident" expert, you've scored Terri!

Cheers,
Steve
 

MizM

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Yes, he's awesome! In fact, PenneyW. and I are going hunting for that species near Mt. Palomar, and we have invited him to join us. Rick (West) gave us a route that we're SURE to find some prime specimens! We are going to have a BLAST!
 
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