Under the microscope!

[N1ghtFire]

to sex, look at the abdomen from the interior.

These are pictures of their abdomen, but being as small as they are I couldn't manage to get the abdomen spread out to see the inside. Since the molts are still transparent I hoped that they may be able to be sexed with the light shining through to see the inside, and maybe someone with more knowledge could tell me what they are. These are some of my first Ts so I have never sexed tarantulas and have no idea what im doing. Plus they are all smaller than 1" so that makes it even more impossible.

 

[Toxoderidae]

I'd just wait until the slings are older then.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

All of those pictures are of the carapace with close ups of the apodeme. To look at tarantula molts at any size, it's best to use a stereo microscope with lighting from the top and/ or sides. Because you have the molts on slides I am assuming you are using a compound, but if you are actually using a stereo microscope, then disregard. Lighting from the bottom will more often wash out the image you see through the ocular lenses and make observing fine details and structures more difficult.

I agree with Toxoderidae. It would be best to wait until they are bigger so you can more easily see the sex organs from inside of the abdomen.

 

[N1ghtFire]

All of those pictures are of the carapace with close ups of the apodeme.

Are you sure it is the carapace I am looking at? I thought the carapace was the middle section the legs attatch to.. I am pretty sure I was looking at the abdomen. I circled the section I had the microscope focused on in the picture attatched..

 

[The Grym Reaper]

That's the top of the carapace, larger example of what you've circled in the form of my genic's old outfit

 

[N1ghtFire]

That's the top of the carapace, larger example of what you've circled in the form of my genic's old outfit

Ohh okay. I see. I get it now. Newbie mistake. Lol

 

[The Grym Reaper]

No worries mate, you want to flatten out the abdomen so you can see both pairs of book lungs and check the area between the first pair (marked on the pic below), females will have a small opening that spans this gap, it's much easier to spot when the T is bigger though, hope that helps.

 

[Biollantefan54]

Theraphosa stirmi urticating setae under the microscope!

I have a microscope and was bored, and i have a molt of a stirmi that I kept a while back, so I decided to check it out under the microscope. I noticed the smaller urticating setae, and really long feathery setae as well. I just thought it was cool to see! Now im itchy…..

 

[HooahArmy]

I became itchy just from reading this post too...

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Here's a pro tip. Use darkfield illumination to improve contrast on the consumer brand compound microscopes. You can easily convert a brightfield illuminator to a darkfield by putting a dime or nickle on top of the light source. For the picture below, I used a dime as a template and cut out a small circle from a piece of cardboard.

Pictured are type 1 and 3 urticating hairs from a Brachypelma boehmei. My slide prep skills are not what they should be. Look at all of those air bubbles.

 

[Biollantefan54]

Here's a pro tip. Use darkfield illumination to improve contrast on the consumer brand compound microscopes. You can easily convert a brightfield illuminator to a darkfield by putting a dime or nickle on top of the light source. For the picture below, I used a dime as a template and cut out a small circle from a piece of cardboard.

Pictured are type 1 and 3 urticating hairs from a Brachypelma boehmei. My slide prep skills are not what they should be. Look at all of those air bubbles.

View attachment 428587

I actually have a dark field condenser that came with the scope! I’ll give it a shot, although once I go past 100x, it gets pretty hazy, but I’ll test it out

 

[Charliemum]

I have a microscope and was bored, and i have a molt of a stirmi that I kept a while back, so I decided to check it out under the microscope. I noticed the smaller urticating setae, and really long feathery setae as well. I just thought it was cool to see! Now im itchy….. View attachment 428569 View attachment 428570 View attachment 428571

I always enjoy your pics, reminds me of pine trees that have lost their leafs who knew. Cool pic as always

 

[Mike Withrow]

Wow that's awesome looking. Also kinda scary in a way. My friend has a big a.genic on the way I thought about possibly buying after doing some research but meh think I'll hold off a little while on the nw after seeing this.

 

[viper69]

Looks like wheat must affect people with celiac even more

 

[IvanOoze]

Carson microbrite mm300 test images(3-5mm A.Chalcodes molt)

I have just received my new Carson Microbrite to help sex my slings molt but in typical fashion the molt i had to test (5CM DLS G.pulchra) had been chewed up and the entire abdomen was missing so I used the next best thing available to me and that was my 3-5MM TINY A.chalcodes molt. These are just me learning how to focus and get the best shot but already the results (in my opinion) are outstanding considering the size of the molt. I had seen @NMTs images of their molts and I thought they where outstanding, they kindly replied when i asked what they where using. Thank you again. I cant thank this forum enough for its mountain of knowledge and the helpful community who have built said mountain. I hope you like them. Any feedback or advice would be greatly welcomed.

Front leg(X60)



chelicerae (x120)


chelicerae(x60)


Im still learning and need some tweaks to the image editing to bring down the brightness etc. These are stock shot through the microscope with my Samsung s21FE.

 

[NMTs]

The images look great to me. It'll take some practice, and finding the spermathecae on such small specimens is challenging even with the scope, but once you find the first one and have a better idea of what you're looking for it gets easier. Getting the exuvia unfolded and prepared for inspection is the hardest part, IMO.

Looking at these creatures under a microscope is awesome, and it helps illustrate just how complex they truly are. They are essentially a walking, super-sensory organ!

 

[IvanOoze]

That's exactly what i was finding most challenging was getting the microscope perfectly over the spermathecae. Even on a 2 inch molt.
I have spent hours the past few days looking at molts through it and its encaptivating.
I couldn't agree more with their complexity. A walking, super-sensory organ indeed, and a beautiful one at that! Its made waiting for the molt days that little bit more intense! Thank you again.