The unsung species & genera of Theraphosidae?

[bannishg]

Don't get me wrong; I love to read these posts outlining the habits, characteristics and personalities of your pet T's, and am fascinated by all Theraphosidae.

However, there are a few species, even genera, that seem to be meagerly documented, ambiguously classified or merely existing "by name" in the Taxon registries. In some cases, they are the only species native to a particular region. Why is this?

Have some of these species gone extinct since their initial classification?

Were they erroneously cataloged?

Have they since been merged or reclassified as other species?

Could it be that some of these poorly studied spiders are endemic to politically unstable or reclusive nations that impede or prohibit researchers from studying its fauna?

Are they just simply super rare?

These are some of the reasons which I believe contribute to our lack of knowledge, and obviously, not all of the factors may apply to all of the species.

Here is my list of poorly documented tarantulas that I wish to know more about. If anybody can share with me any information whatsoever regarding these species (especially pictures!), please post it here and/or send me a PM.

I realize that this may be a long shot to get the answers in this forum, but I can at least raise awareness of these species, maybe even spark interest in others......


1.) Avicularia panamensis (Dist: S. Mexico thru Panama)

2.) Loxomphalia rubida (Dist: Zanzibar); this is the only species in the genus. I'd really like some more info about this one, especially because it is the only tarantula in, as well as exclusively endemic to, Zanzibar island.

3.) Myostola Occidentalis (Dist: Gabon & Cameroon); again, only species in the genus.

4.) Harpactirella Insidiosa (Dist: Morocco); likely to be an established species or an error. The entire genus is otherwise endemic to South Africa, but you never know...

5.) Trichognathella Schoenlandi (Dist: Tanzania, South Africa)

6.) Monocentropus Longimanus (Dist: Yemen mainland); another one I'd like to see an image of, and I ain't talkin' bout the well-documented Balfouri of Socotra.

7.) Chaetopelma Adenense (Dist: Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia)

8.) Ischnocolus Jerusalemensis (Dist: Israel)

9.) Citharognathus Tongmianensis (Dist: Guangxi Province, China)

10.) Psalmopoeus Maya (Dist: Chiapas + Quintana Roo, Mexico & Belize)

11.) Selenocosmia Jiafu (Dist: Yunnan Province, China)

12.) Chilobrachys Hubei (Dist: Hubei Province, China)

13.) Chilobrachys Liboensis (Dist: Guizhou Province, China)

14.) Selenocosmia Xinhuaensis (Dist: Yunnan Province, China)

15.) Aphonopelma Gurleyi (Dist: USA)

16.) Aphonopelma Jungi (Dist: USA)

17.) Aphonopelma Lithodomum (Dist: USA)

18.) Clavopelma Tamaulipeca (Dist: Mexico)

19.) Cyrtopholis Jamaicola (Dist: Jamaica); Presumed by some to be extinct.

20.) Lasiodora Gutzkei (Dist: Belize); Definitely would like to know more! Didn't know Lasiodoras occurred this far north! Does it possibly range into Mexico?

21.) Ozopactus Ernsti (Dist: Venezuela)

22.) Phormictopus Platus (Dist: Florida Keys, USA???) Many believe this species was either a one-time invader from Cuba (why not call it "native", especially since Cuba is only 90 miles to the south?), or has since gone extinct. Very ambiguous documentation with this one.

23.) Xenesthis Immanis, Panama Sp. (Dist: Panama)

24.) Acanthoscurria Borealis, (Dist: Guatemala) Being the only member of the genus that is not in either South America or the West Indies, it got my attention.

25.) Aphonopelma Coloradanum, (Dist: USA)

Whew, that's all I can come up with for now.

Greg

 

[Philth]

Why is this?

Have some of these species gone extinct since their initial classification?

Were they erroneously cataloged?

Have they since been merged or reclassified as other species?

Could it be that some of these poorly studied spiders are endemic to politically unstable or reclusive nations that impede or prohibit researchers from studying its fauna?

Are they just simply super rare?

I'd say all of the above, but to get started...

20.) Lasiodora Gutzkei (Dist: Belize); Definitely would like to know more! Didn't know Lasiodoras occurred this far north! Does it possibly range into Mexico?

Most of the Lasiodora that Im familiar with in Central America are not related to the large South American Lasiodora at all , and are smaller spiders prob closer related to Metriopelma or something similar.

Later, Tom

 

[LV-426]

I thought P. platus was found on the Dry Tortugas, anyways I bought one labeled as such and is a very beautiful T. If I had a boat I would go check for myself to see if they really are found there.

 

[Comatose]

Could it be that some of these poorly studied spiders are endemic to politically unstable or reclusive nations that impede or prohibit researchers from studying its fauna?

Are they just simply super rare?

Excellent topic... I hope you don't mind if I add two -

Phoneyusa lesserti and Xenesthis monstrosa (monstosus)

Both species meet your criteria. I bring the former up because it's apparently the largest species on the African continent; rivaling even South American species. It just happens to be in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

The Xenesthis was an almost mythical spider a while back, and at least a few times mislabeled Pamphos and other spiders were sold as these. There's more information available on this than the Phoneyusa, but still worth bringing up.

I'd say all of the above, but to get started...



Most of the Lasiodora that Im familiar with in Central America are not related to the large South American Lasiodora at all , and are smaller spiders prob closer related to Metriopelma or something similar.

Later, Tom

Wasn't Scricopelma rubroritens in Lasiodora at one point as well?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Excellent topic... I hope you don't mind if I add two -

Phoneyusa lesserti and Xenesthis monstrosa (monstosus)

Both species meet your criteria. I bring the former up because it's apparently the largest species on the African continent; rivaling even South American species. It just happens to be in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

The Xenesthis was an almost mythical spider a while back, and at least a few times mislabeled Pamphos and other spiders were sold as these. There's more information available on this than the Phoneyusa, but still worth bringing up.



Wasn't Scricopelma rubroritens in Lasiodora at one point as well?

Are you forgeting Hystocrates Hercules?? I thought it was the Largest T in Africa 9-10"+ up to 12" just lighter then T stirmi
The Carpace on this T is HUGE!
its a Legend though.. only one specimen a dead one in somewere in a museum

 

[Comatose]

Are you forgeting Hystocrates Hercules?? I thought it was the Largest T in Africa 9-10"+ up to 12" just lighter then T stirmi
The Carpace on this T is HUGE!
its a Legend though.. only one specimen a dead one in somewere in a museum

Legend is right dude; the type specimen, which at the moment is the only confirmed H. hercules on earth, is apparently not all that big. It's never actually been in the hobby, and the 'biggest T in Africa' bit is just as dubious.

Now, that said, P. lesserti's size might be just as mythical (Mark Hart had some info on them way back), but it's so little known I thought it was worth bringing up.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Well I hope one of these monsters if not all.. become discovered" and Bread.. I like HUGE Ts... sucks there all in countrys but the USA
a King baboon gets 9" which since there real.. they could be about the same size as H Herc,, unless Herc was a H GIGA's with Gigantism or something'
900+ species of Ts exist... and not even half are in the hobby do you know how many are in the hobby???

 

[Philth]

Wasn't Scricopelma rubroritens in Lasiodora at one point as well?

I haven't heard this and I don't see a reference to it in the The World Spider Catalog. :? I agree, excellent topic.

Later, Tom

 

[Comatose]

That's hasty spelling on my part - it's Sericopelma rubronitens, looks like it may have actually been in Aphonopelma at one point, but I guess I must've been wrong on Lasiodora.

I like HUGE Ts...

Me too

 

[Scourge]

Plenty of info on these boards about X. immanis and A. borealis.
I have a paper on C. tongmianensis if you want to see it? But it's mostly in Chinese (with an English summary), and the only photo is not very good at all.
PM me your email addy if you want a copy.

 

[bannishg]

Will do!!! I'd love to obtain more info on C. tongmianensis!

I do realize there is a lot of detailing with regards to X. Immanis, but they mostly outline the Columbian/ Venezuelan variant. I'm looking for information on the Panamanian variant. It's rare in Panama, but supposedly the coloration is different and it is a tad smaller than those to the south. My guess is that they are in the Darien region. I'll start reading up on A. Borealis.

Thanks so much for the offer!!

Greg

 

[Comatose]

Will do!!! I'd love to obtain more info on C. tongmianensis!

I do realize there is a lot of detailing with regards to X. Immanis, but they mostly outline the Columbian/ Venezuelan variant. I'm looking for information on the Panamanian variant. It's rare in Panama, but supposedly the coloration is different and it is a tad smaller than those to the south. My guess is that they are in the Darien region. I'll start reading up on A. Borealis.

Thanks so much for the offer!!

Greg

I noticed that in your first post too... I'd be surprised to learn that X. immanis is in fact in Panama; do you have any papers on it? Xenesthis is such a fascinating genus... there are at least 2(3?) undescribed species/variants in the hobby now, and who knows what's lurking in the FARC infested jungles of Columbia, just waiting to blow the hobby up.

 

[bannishg]

Well I hope one of these monsters if not all.. become discovered" and Bread.. I like HUGE Ts... sucks there all in countrys but the USA
a King baboon gets 9" which since there real.. they could be about the same size as H Herc,, unless Herc was a H GIGA's with Gigantism or something'
900+ species of Ts exist... and not even half are in the hobby do you know how many are in the hobby???

Is there any instances in island or isolation-caused giganticism in T's? Hard to say. It just seems to me that it always comes down to proximity to the equator and the available varieties of prey. In my opinion, it can't really be argued that the enormous sizes achieved by Theraphosas (12in), C. Crawshayi (10.5in), L. Parahybana(10in), and P. Ornata (10in) are due to isolation. All of these spiders are found within 10 degrees from the Equator. Perhaps somewhere, there is a small island off the coast of Africa or South America that has been overlooked, where an undiscovered tarantula sp. has had the right conditions to grow to a 15" leg span. Who knows?

Also, no pooh-poohing about the tarantulas here in the states! I'm actually quite impressed with the variety and size of our T's! Elsewhere in the world at the same latitude and in the same types of semi-arid and sup-tropical niches, the tarantulas are not nearly as big and diverse as they are here. You may try to point out that the T's in the semi-arid regions of Australia get much larger, and indeed they do, but a huge chunk of the northern part of the continent is within the Tropic of Capricorn, where none of the continental US is within the Tropic of Cancer. In fact, the largest of our T's is arguably the A. New River which can get over 6", hardly a dwarf! I am a tad perplexed that all of our 50+ species have been lumped into the Aphonopelma genus. I'm sure it could be argued that there are many strong differences within the genus that could call for some US Aphonos getting reclassified into an entirely new genus. I also think that it is very possible to find a new Brachypelma of some sort in the mountains of central Arizona.

As for the actual amount of species in the pet trade, I doubt that it's over 150, and that inludes all species that are legal in one country but illegal elsewhere.

Greg

---------- Post added 12-09-2011 at 10:57 AM ----------

The only information that I have that hints the presence of X. Immanis in Panama are the entries in the world spider catalogue and other such reference sites. They list Panama among the countries within the range of its distribution. I'd have to assume that the Panamanian type would be noticeably different in comparison to the South American, but there are no papers I know of that go into this.

Greg

 

[Comatose]

As for the actual amount of species in the pet trade, I doubt that it's over 150, and that inludes all species that are legal in one country but illegal elsewhere.

Greg

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there aren't any tarantulas I can think of that are illegal to own in this country. Import/export, perhaps, but once the babies are legally imported, it doesn't matter how illegal the parents were (with some potential exceptions with very broad interpretations of the Lacey Act).

That said, I'm guessing the number of species that are or have been in the hobby is well over 200... it would be interesting to create a list, but there have been quite a lot of flare ups that were very popular, but then disappeared almost entirely. Example - in the late 90's Glades Herp imported 3 species from Sao Tome - Hysterocrates scepticus, apistolycus and Pnoneyusa mantica (spelling may be off, in a hurry. They were all bred successfully, and were immensely expensive and popular, but then quickly disappeared from the trade. Since then H. scepticus have shown up once or twice as CB slings, but it's tough to ID any Hysterocrates, much less as slings. To my knowledge the other two are gone for good unless someone imports fresh adults from Sao Tome (highly unlikely).

Again, awesome topic!

 

[bannishg]

Actually, "illegal" was probably the wrong word for me to use. "Very very hard to get" is what I should've used. I do know that there are many species that are not allowed in Florida because its climate is ideal for many T's if they were to escape. A shame that they never really spread there naturally, but there would be far too many predators for an invasive T to really achieve true success, as evidenced by the dwindling population of B. Vagans.

Greg

 

[Comatose]

Good point - Florida is an exception, and I believe Hawaii may have some similar laws.

 

[bannishg]

Yes definitely Hawaii, there are NO native T's in Hawaii, despite what the Brady Bunch says lol!!! I'm sure T's would make themselves at home just like the South American Dart Frogs have.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Does the king baboon really get 10.5" lasiodora parhybana are known to be larger
Getting 9-11"

 

[LV-426]

Phormictopus cubensis is one T that deserves some recognition

 

[Earth Tiger]

Chinese species

Don't get me wrong; I love to read these posts outlining the habits, characteristics and personalities of your pet T's, and am fascinated by all Theraphosidae.

However, there are a few species, even genera, that seem to be meagerly documented, ambiguously classified or merely existing "by name" in the Taxon registries. In some cases, they are the only species native to a particular region. Why is this?

Have some of these species gone extinct since their initial classification?

Were they erroneously cataloged?

Have they since been merged or reclassified as other species?

Could it be that some of these poorly studied spiders are endemic to politically unstable or reclusive nations that impede or prohibit researchers from studying its fauna?

Are they just simply super rare?

These are some of the reasons which I believe contribute to our lack of knowledge, and obviously, not all of the factors may apply to all of the species.

Here is my list of poorly documented tarantulas that I wish to know more about. If anybody can share with me any information whatsoever regarding these species (especially pictures!), please post it here and/or send me a PM.

I realize that this may be a long shot to get the answers in this forum, but I can at least raise awareness of these species, maybe even spark interest in others......

11.) Selenocosmia Jiafu (Dist: Yunnan Province, China)

12.) Chilobrachys Hubei (Dist: Hubei Province, China)

13.) Chilobrachys Liboensis (Dist: Guizhou Province, China)

14.) Selenocosmia Xinhuaensis (Dist: Yunnan Province, China)

Greg

Hello Greg, I am no authority to say for sure for many of the above species, but for the few Chinese species you named here, they were poorly studied due to both politically instability and reclusive natures of the local people that impede researchers from studying the tarantulas properly. For example 8 years ago we brought the Chinese Fawn tarantula Chilobrachys guanxiensis into this hobby, among other exotic arachnids and inverts. They were all captive breed gravid females and we shipped them to numerous breeders around the world and many of these breeders are also scientists. But when we were asked about their origins, we could not say for sure. We spent months to communicate with a few famous Chinese research institutes to just acquire these captive animals, and we spent months to establish a legal transportation route to my region which many people are enjoying now. If you talk to any breeder here you get all these sorted out within an hour, yet we spent months to purchase and transport them! So you can imagine how difficult communications with them were. They don't keep history about these captive bred animals either, no documentation, and one of these famous institutes attempted to ship us eagles - yes, the raptors, after we had been communicating with them to import Haplopelma, Selenocosmia and Chilobrachys for months! On your computer you press the T button and it shows the letter T on your screen, but dealing with these "scientists", expect there is no rule and no logic to follow. It's like pressing the T button, you will sometimes get anything from a E letter or system shutdown...

No I am not a racist because I am a Chinese myself, but not all Chinese are the same...

So how about wild caught individuals? If researchers arrive at a particular location and collect wild samples there, this can eliminate most of the uncertainties around these animals. Well, we had a team that tried to explore these remote regions in China before. Some places were inaccessible and too dangerous to explore, and the rest turned to villages already and the habitats completely destroyed. There were no google map. Concerning the Chilobrachys hubei - does it really originate from Hubei? If you visit Hubei, China, you are not guaranteed to find a wild caught Chilobrachys hubei because it may not be native there, or it is just synonymous with Chilobrachys guanxiensis. And the worst scenario is that it becomes extinct in Hubei, who knows. Hunting these critters down in these areas is more like some cryptozoological guests to identify cryptids - no guaranteed success but guaranteed frustrations. If people have budgets and time they will opt for tigers or other bigger animals with spines that matter more to most people - no one care about bugs except us...