Tarantulas of the USA with a Focus on the Sky Islands of Arizona and New Species: A 2-hour Presentation

Michael Jacobi

ARACHNOCULTURE MAGAZINE
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Tarantulas of the USA with a Focus on the Sky Islands of Arizona and New Species
A Michael Jacobi Presentation (www.mjacobi.com, @jacobipix)

This is a studio-recorded version (produced on April 1, 2020) of the live after-dinner presentation I delivered at the 18th Annual British Tarantula Society Lectures & Dinner on March 14, 2020. It presents an overview of all 29 current species of US Aphonopelma tarantulas and introduces for the first time what will be the 30th species. It also shows a few spiders found in newly sampled mountain ranges that also may be new species. The emphasis is the Madrean Sky Islands of Arizona, explaining the concept and the eight biomes found with increasing elevation while presenting the Marxi-group or Sky Islands Diversity group of Aphonopelma in detail. The six current US Marxi-group theraphosid spiders are A. marxi, A. catalina, A. chiricahua, A. madera, A. peloncillo, and A. vorhiesi, but I also give a sneak peek at what will be the seventh when it is described later this year. Presenting fieldwork I undertook both alone, and in the company of Dr. Brent Hendrixson and others, I also show some new spiders that Brent found along with his colleague and friend Dr. Chris Hamilton. In addition to depicting all known American tarantulas and some new ones, I share some of my other wildlife and landscape photography.

 
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