T Blondi locality

[Marcostaco]

Is it possible to identify which locality of T blondi she is from appearance? I'm planning to breed her in the near future.
I was leaning towards Surinam but I'm not entirely sure. The people I got her from are looking into it but I want to know if anyone could help out.

She's darker in person, more of a chocolaty color. I can provide more pictures if needed

 

[Liquifin]

T. blondi has locality differences? That's a first for me.

 

[Jumbie Spider]

T. blondi has locality differences? That's a first for me.

I've seen a documentary with Guy Tansley who mentions Suriname locality is "hairier".

 

[Marcostaco]

I've seen a documentary with Guy Tansley who mentions Suriname locality is "hairier".

Yes and some say that the French guiana locality are the "true" blondi.

 

[mack1855]

some say

Where and whom?.Im with @Liquifin ,I have always assumed blondi,s just had a large range.Would that mean then,that stirmis have different color forms across the range?.Never heard that either.

 

[Marcostaco]

Where and whom?.Im with @Liquifin ,I have always assumed blondi,s just had a large range.Would that mean then,that stirmis have different color forms across the range?.Never heard that either.

Andrew Smith. He has a video where they found a Surinam locality specimen of T blondi in the wild. He also said in the video that it was initially thought that the surinam locality was a fourth species in the genus

 

[The Spider House]

Is it possible to identify which locality of T blondi she is from appearance? I'm planning to breed her in the near future.
I was leaning towards Surinam but I'm not entirely sure. The people I got her from are looking into it but I want to know if anyone could help out.

She's darker in person, more of a chocolaty color. I can provide more pictures if needed

If this helps I believe mine is FG and a selection of photos attached. She is a chocolate colour with darker abdomen which are also typical for FG specimens I believe.

 

[Marcostaco]

If this helps I believe mine is FG and a selection of photos attached. She is a chocolate colour with darker abdomen which are also typical for FG specimens I believe.
View attachment 381663 View attachment 381664 View attachment 381665

Mine is exactly that color in person! I just have a <edit> camera

I suspected Suriname because I've read that it was more common to acquire Suriname localities in the pet trade

 

[The Spider House]

Mine is exactly that color in person! I just have a <edit> camera

I suspected Suriname because I've read that it was more common to acquire Suriname localities in the pet trade

What size is yours? Looks like a juvenile? I have a male blondi that is now about 1 or 2 moults away from maturity and I swear he was virtually orange before last moult so there are some colour changes and he has gone a lot darker.

 

[Marcostaco]

What size is yours? Looks like a juvenile? I have a male blondi that is now about 1 or 2 moults away from maturity and I swear he was virtually orange before last moult so there are some colour changes and he has gone a lot darker.

Yeah, she's just about 5" DLS
She definitely could show a lot more changes as she molts. Doesn't even have the bulk yet. She's still on the leggy stage

 

[The Spider House]

Yeah, she's just about 5" DLS
She definitely could show a lot more changes as she molts. Doesn't even have the bulk yet. She's still on the leggy stage

That one I sent pics if is a beast. About 9.5 to 10 inches (due a moult as well). Got another about the same size but she has nit come out of her hide after a recent moult so not got any decent pics of her yet.

 

[mack1855]

This is my male,about 7DLS here.This was last year,early 2020.just for comparison purposes.
This is a very interesting thread,

 

[Marcostaco]

This is my male,about 7DLS here.This was last year,early 2020.just for comparison purposes.
This is a very interesting thread, View attachment 381670

I also have a theory on why it's difficult to get a good sac from T blondi. I've posted similar threads in multiple groups and contacted various breeders, a lot of people are actually surprised that there are locality differences for T blondi. So my theory is maybe people have been mixing up the different localities of T blondi, that's why it's hard to get a good sac from them. Just a theory

That one I sent pics if is a beast. About 9.5 to 10 inches (due a moult as well). Got another about the same size but she has nit come out of her hide after a recent moult so not got any decent pics of her yet.

That's awesome. I hope mine will reach beastly sizes too. I'm feeding her good, not power feeding but feeding her really good

 

[Arachnid Addicted]

As for the OP question, I don't believe anyone could say the specimen locality by picture so, I really can't answer that.

As for the blondi localities, here's a WSC link:

NMBE - World Spider Catalog

Detailed taxonomic information about the spider families

wsc.nmbe.ch

I've also heard about a specimen from Suriname, however, I don't know if they were confirmed as T. blondi.

 

[The Spider House]

This is my male,about 7DLS here.This was last year,early 2020.just for comparison purposes.
This is a very interesting thread, View attachment 381670

Looks exactly like the 2 males I have the same size. Are you thinking FG on yours too?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I also have a theory on why it's difficult to get a good sac from T blondi. I've posted similar threads in multiple groups and contacted various breeders, a lot of people are actually surprised that there are locality differences for T blondi. So my theory is maybe people have been mixing up the different localities of T blondi, that's why it's hard to get a good sac from them. Just a theory

Your thoughts on the subject highlight one of the biggest faults and sources of frustration in the tarantula keeping community. At least in the USA anyway. That fault being we don't know what country, or region of a country, our captive bred tarantulas come from originally. Sometimes a seller, or importer, can tell you sometimes they can't.

When it comes to Theraphosa blondi specifically, I believe the source of confusion of what we have in the hobby stems from their taxonomic confusion. For instance, the two Theraphosa blondi I bought a few years ago, which were both males, matured at about half the size of my T. stirmi male. I was absolutely shocked because I always thought of T. blondi as a species as large as T. stirmi but with very hairy legs. After scouring the taxonomic literature available from the World Spider Catalog it became apparent that a good definition for what T. blondi is exactly doesn't exist. There are plenty of drawings and analyses of something called T. blondi in the literature, but they all seem to be different spiders with roughly the same genital morphology coming from the north eastern region of South America. In other words, the published taxonomic literature does not resolve ambiguity of the species.

If the species is ambiguous, then all we have to go on is country of origin; something we don't get with our (again in the USA) captive bred spiderlings. Since the country of origin is not available and the species is poorly defined, then of course a successful breeding population in captivity won't be possible.

The question is simple, but no one has a good answer. What exactly is Theraphosa blondi and where do they really occur?

 

[The Spider House]

Your thoughts on the subject highlight one of the biggest faults and sources of frustration in the tarantula keeping community. At least in the USA anyway. That fault being we don't know what country, or region of a country, our captive bred tarantulas come from originally. Sometimes a seller, or importer, can tell you sometimes they can't.

When it comes to Theraphosa blondi specifically, I believe the source of confusion of what we have in the hobby stems from their taxonomic confusion. For instance, the two Theraphosa blondi I bought a few years ago, which were both males, matured at about half the size of my T. stirmi male. I was absolutely shocked because I always thought of T. blondi as a species as large as T. stirmi but with very hairy legs. After scouring the taxonomic literature available from the World Spider Catalog it became apparent that a good definition for what T. blondi is exactly doesn't exist. There are plenty of drawings and analyses of something called T. blondi in the literature, but they all seem to be different spiders with roughly the same genital morphology coming from the north eastern region of South America. In other words, the published taxonomic literature does not resolve ambiguity of the species.

If the species is ambiguous, then all we have to go on is country of origin; something we don't get with our (again in the USA) captive bred spiderlings. Since the country of origin is not available and the species is poorly defined, then of course a successful breeding population in captivity won't be possible.

The question is simple, but no one has a good answer. What exactly is Theraphosa blondi and where do they really occur?

Excellent summary. And not just restricted to the T blondi. Many spiders are impacted this way. Great Post

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Excellent summary. And not just restricted to the T blondi. Many spiders are impacted this way. Great Post

Thanks for the compliment. Remember the time when everyone had a T. blondi with bald knees? Well, only those who had a T. blondi with very hairy legs before the nearly hairless ones were common started to realize the T. blondi they had at the time were not the same T. blondi they had in a previous time. The name stayed the same, but the spider changed. We then started hearing rumors of a third Theraphosa species and eventually the description of T. stirmi was published and now we know better. I have a strong hunch we are seeing the same thing again, only this time, I believe there are two spiders being called Theraphosa blondi that have hairy legs but one is small and one is huge. So which is the "real" one?

 

[The Spider House]

Thanks for the compliment. Remember the time when everyone had a T. blondi with bald knees? Well, only those who had a T. blondi with very hairy legs before the nearly hairless ones were common started to realize the T. blondi they had at the time were not the same T. blondi they had in a previous time. The name stayed the same, but the spider changed. We then started hearing rumors of a third Theraphosa species and eventually the description of T. stirmi was published and now we know better. I have a strong hunch we are seeing the same thing again, only this time, I believe there are two spiders being called Theraphosa blondi that have hairy legs but one is small and one is huge. So which is the "real" one?

I do remember very well. Its the same with the Mexican Red Knee (all thought we had B smithi but were probably all B hamorii).

Back to the naming debate, it's got to be the huge one. Ha ha
Otherwise 'Goliath'* doesn't feel right LOL

*Not that I condone the use of common names in any way as that causes even more confusion!

 

[Marcostaco]

Your thoughts on the subject highlight one of the biggest faults and sources of frustration in the tarantula keeping community. At least in the USA anyway. That fault being we don't know what country, or region of a country, our captive bred tarantulas come from originally. Sometimes a seller, or importer, can tell you sometimes they can't.

When it comes to Theraphosa blondi specifically, I believe the source of confusion of what we have in the hobby stems from their taxonomic confusion. For instance, the two Theraphosa blondi I bought a few years ago, which were both males, matured at about half the size of my T. stirmi male. I was absolutely shocked because I always thought of T. blondi as a species as large as T. stirmi but with very hairy legs. After scouring the taxonomic literature available from the World Spider Catalog it became apparent that a good definition for what T. blondi is exactly doesn't exist. There are plenty of drawings and analyses of something called T. blondi in the literature, but they all seem to be different spiders with roughly the same genital morphology coming from the north eastern region of South America. In other words, the published taxonomic literature does not resolve ambiguity of the species.

If the species is ambiguous, then all we have to go on is country of origin; something we don't get with our (again in the USA) captive bred spiderlings. Since the country of origin is not available and the species is poorly defined, then of course a successful breeding population in captivity won't be possible.

The question is simple, but no one has a good answer. What exactly is Theraphosa blondi and where do they really occur?

So my theory is actually showing some credibility. The breeders and importers I've messaged from the US and Canada about this topic seemingly confirmed my theory of people not actually knowing the exact origins of their T blondi, resulting in hard success rates from breeding captive bred specimens.

I've also found an old thread where a reputable T blondi breeder from Europe said that it was harder for T blondi to produce a good sac in captivity compared to in the wild. Also, Andrew Smith with Micheal Jacobi and among a few others have studied T blondi in the past. There was one video of Andrew Smith talking about the Suriname locality of T blondi, it was very brief but what he said was DNA samples from the French Guiana and Suriname localities were taken to the lab and have shown slight differences. He then said maybe there really is a fourth species in the Theraphosa genus or maybe it was just the same species but hairier. The video was also relatively new