The awkward Pamphobeteus molt

[A guy]

I've only heard and seen pictures of it. Where a Pamphobeteus specimen molts and it would look absolutely different from what it looked like prior to the molt. And after the said "awkward" phase, they would molt and look "normal" again as they have been before the weird looking phase.

My Pamphobeteus sp. solaris female molted recently and is now in that awkward phase. It's very interesting to see in person.
Looks like a different species.

And people wonder why Pamphobeteus can't be identified with appearances

Before the molt


After the molt

 

[NMTs]

I've only heard and seen pictures of it. Where a Pamphobeteus specimen molts and it would look absolutely different from what it looked like prior to the molt. And after the said "awkward" phase, they would molt and look "normal" again as they have been before the weird looking phase.

My Pamphobeteus sp. solaris female molted recently and is now in that awkward phase. It's very interesting to see in person.
Looks like a different species.

Before the molt
View attachment 444060

After the molt
View attachment 444062

Looks like it's in a Sericopelma sp. Santa Catalina disguise.

 

[A guy]

Looks like it's in a Sericopelma sp. Santa Catalina disguise.

Definitely, especially in person it's actually a bit more orange in color.

 

[Pedipalpable]

Ah yes, the eternal riddle that is the Pamphobeteus genus. I can certainly appreciate why accurately identifying them by appearance at any given stage in their lifecycle can be difficult to impossible depending on the specifics. They are the chameleons of the tarantula world. And it doesn't help that there are so many undescribed species and colour forms, and that the nomenclature is confusing to the point of being intractable.
As an example, I've been trying to identify which of the four or five variants of Pamphobeteus antinous is the one with the gorgeous jet black, velvety appearance that I see photos of here on AB. I want to get one for myself sometime in the future. Not much luck so far. It's all so confusing!

That is a beautiful T you have there by the way. Both of them.

 

[A guy]

As an example, I've been trying to identify which of the four or five variants of Pamphobeteus antinous is the one with the gorgeous jet black, velvety appearance that I see photos of here on AB. I want to get one for myself sometime in the future. Not much luck so far. It's all so confusing!

That is a beautiful T you have there by the way. Both of them.

Seems like an impossible task

 

[Pedipalpable]

Seems like an impossible task

And it likely is, if you want to have any degree of certainty. Heck, most people I've asked don't even know which variant/colour form they have. And then there's the fact that some vendors appear to use different names for the same colour form. I suspect I'll just have to settle on being slightly less uncertain of what I'm getting.

 

[Liquifin]

It literally went into a emo phase. LOL

 

[A guy]

And it likely is, if you want to have any degree of certainty. Heck, most people I've asked don't even know which variant/colour form they have. And then there's the fact that some vendors appear to use different names for the same colour form. I suspect I'll just have to settle on being slightly less uncertain of what I'm getting.

That's the best thing we can do. Stick with what they're sold as.

 

[BoyFromLA]

Very interesting. Personally, it’s my first time seeing / hearing about it.

I’ll update you if my Pamphobeteus solaris pair ever go through this phase.

 

[A guy]

Molted again, she's now moved on with the emo stage

 

[Liquifin]

You got to show us the males. Males of all species are truly underappreciated.

 

[A guy]

You got to show us the males. Males of all species are truly underappreciated.

My males are much smaller so imagine this but smaller lol

 

[BoyFromLA]

I've only heard and seen pictures of it. Where a Pamphobeteus specimen molts and it would look absolutely different from what it looked like prior to the molt. And after the said "awkward" phase, they would molt and look "normal" again as they have been before the weird looking phase.

My Pamphobeteus sp. solaris female molted recently and is now in that awkward phase. It's very interesting to see in person.
Looks like a different species.

I’ll update you if my Pamphobeteus solaris pair ever go through this phase.

Almost 5 months later, I witnessed with my own eyes. Pamphobeteus solaris just molted today, and it is now looking completely different with it’s post molt new coloration.

I can’t believe what I am witnessing…

 

[BoyFromLA]

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to find out it’s future molt coloration.

Wet Molt

Wet molt, I’ve heard, read about it, but I was, am still not so familiar with the term: wet molt. I had to look it up. Since Arachnoboards search function is limited / required to use more than four letter words, I had to use other search option. I went through every Arachnoboards posts...

arachnoboards.com

 

[A guy]

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to find out it’s future molt coloration.

Wet Molt

Wet molt, I’ve heard, read about it, but I was, am still not so familiar with the term: wet molt. I had to look it up. Since Arachnoboards search function is limited / required to use more than four letter words, I had to use other search option. I went through every Arachnoboards posts...

arachnoboards.com

That's what I thought, it looked like a wet molt

 

[NMTs]

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to find out it’s future molt coloration.

Wet Molt

Wet molt, I’ve heard, read about it, but I was, am still not so familiar with the term: wet molt. I had to look it up. Since Arachnoboards search function is limited / required to use more than four letter words, I had to use other search option. I went through every Arachnoboards posts...

arachnoboards.com

Sorry, that sucks.