Songthela sp china; ID help

[8 legged]

Bought as Songthela sp china, which can mean anything. The animal was found in China, is female and has a body length of 2 cm. I don't know more at the moment.
Does anyone have an idea or experience that can help me?

 

[Wolfram1]

I am not familiar with the genus, but it looks very much like the Liphistius sp. i have seen on exo-pet.de

edit: sadly that wont be of much help, good luck

 

[8 legged]

I am not familiar with the genus, but it looks very much like the Liphistius sp. i have seen on exo-pet.de

Correct, Songthela is a spider genus in the family Liphistiidae.
A few species have also been described. They all come from China or Vietnam. However, I can not assign this animal. Unfortunately, the seller had no idea about anything. But then he was sure it was a spider...

 

[Edan bandoot]

I am not familiar with the genus, but it looks very much like the Liphistius sp. i have seen on exo-pet.de

songthela are the liphistiids that are native to china, liphistius is from south east asia, generally.

@8 legged there's a couple papers describing Songthela sp, maybe try sorting through those, but I don't think it will be an easy or even possible ID based on morphology alone.

 

[8 legged]

I don't actually name my spider, I just number it. With this one (although I know almost nothing about her) I immediately had a name in my head: Atlach-Nacha; after the spider god in the Lovecraft universe (one of the great old ones) - which a Mesothelae is quite entitled to!

songthela are the liphistiids that are native to china, liphistius is from south east asia, generally.

@8 legged there's a couple papers describing Songthela sp, maybe try sorting through those, but I don't think it will be an easy or even possible ID based on morphology alone.

I tried - no chance!!!

 

[RezonantVoid]

When in doubt, look to info available on other stuff in the same family, in this case Liphistius. I had a bit of a Google to see if I could find habitat data and did come across some photos of burrow locations from both genera, and fortunately they seem pretty similar.

As far as I'm able to tell, most Liphistius and Songthela prefer vertical or very steep clay embankments, where they dig horizontally into the sides. Their triplines help detect prey climbing up the embankments, which considering how wet the climates they are often found in are, probably works out really well for them. As per my recommendations for Aussie genera like the majority of Euoplos, Cataxia, Cryptoforis, some Arbanitis, Blakistonia and Idiosoma, I'd suggest building a clay wall setup for them to mimic their wild habitat for the best possible reception to the enclosure.

I made a YT video just last week about building clay wall trapdoor setups with natural materials around you, just using some clay soil from a roadside embankment as the primary ingredient. If you wish to construct a naturalistic setup for it that mimics it's wild conditions, it may be of use.

 

[8 legged]

Many Thanks. The video is a little treasure - more of it please!
I am aware of the maintenance conditions, I would just like to be able to assign the animal, but I am afraid that I will not get any further until I hold a molt in my hands. I looked at descriptions on the net, superficially the animals are partly too similar to be able to differentiate adequately. The binoculars have to go!

 

[Jonathan6303]

When in doubt, look to info available on other stuff in the same family, in this case Liphistius. I had a bit of a Google to see if I could find habitat data and did come across some photos of burrow locations from both genera, and fortunately they seem pretty similar.

As far as I'm able to tell, most Liphistius and Songthela prefer vertical or very steep clay embankments, where they dig horizontally into the sides. Their triplines help detect prey climbing up the embankments, which considering how wet the climates they are often found in are, probably works out really well for them. As per my recommendations for Aussie genera like the majority of Euoplos, Cataxia, Cryptoforis, some Arbanitis, Blakistonia and Idiosoma, I'd suggest building a clay wall setup for them to mimic their wild habitat for the best possible reception to the enclosure.

I made a YT video just last week about building clay wall trapdoor setups with natural materials around you, just using some clay soil from a roadside embankment as the primary ingredient. If you wish to construct a naturalistic setup for it that mimics it's wild conditions, it may be of use.

Really sweet enclosure. Well done.