What do male sex organs for tarantulas look like?

[JamesGSixx]

Okay so i've been gendering a lot of my t's through a digital microscope and i have a couple of questions.

1. Do males have flaps? the same as you see on a female tarantula?
2. Do they have bulbs/snail eyes looking organs just like females??
3. Do all male molts look the same?

I'm confused because one of my davus pentaloris slings has a flap with 2 bulbs in its molt when it's suppose to look like a triangle shape.

This is what my davus pentaloris looks like. 1" sling

 

[PidderPeets]

Males do have two small antenna or nubs called accessory organs, as well as a gonopore in the middle of the two.

Because I'm not that well versed with this species, I'm not sure whether those appear to be developing spermathecae or male accessory organs. But I did find a decent source that explains both the male and female reproductive anatomy that is both informative and might help a bit

 

[Theneil]

i am also unfamilier with the species but Google is not the most reliable source for accurately labled pictures. Additionally, The google pic is clearly a mature specimen while yours is not (though it very much looks female) Seems like a long shot but maybe the spermathecae will fuse to the point they look like the google pic.

 

[boina]

@JamesGSixx - you will have to remove the google pic. On here you are only allowed to post your own pics. Replace the pic with a link.

@Theneil - that's not a long shot at all because that's exactly what happens. This is a female.

 

[Goopyguy56]

Yeah I don't think males have a flap. Most of the time the male parts are wider at the top than the bottom. Female parts tend to be wider at the base than the top. There are exceptions to these rules though. That pic is a lady. If there is a flap it isn't a dude.

 

[Theneil]

@boina Thanks. i wasn't near any of my books and i could only think of fused spermathicea like Brachypelma sp. where they are generally wide and blunt at the tip not so pointy so i wasn't sure if they could/would fuse into such a point. I'm glad to hear i wasn't completely wrong.

 

[Nightstalker47]

If anyone has good pictures of the male accessory organs, now's the time to post them.

 

[Vanessa]

Males typically have two small, dark, round, objects that are spaced far apart and no flap. The 'flap' is the uterus externus and only females have those.
If you're wondering if you're looking at male, or female, organs - first thing to do is research what the female spermathecae looks like. In most cases, you're going to know immediately that what you are seeing is not spermathecae and a uterus externus. Only in a very small number of species will the spermathecae look similar to male organs and that will only be at the smaller sizes.
Here are a few examples that I have of my males.
Brachypelma albopilosum male


Euathlus parvulus male.


Thrixopelma pruriens male.

 

[Vanessa]

Okay, if I said that this was a male at some point, either here or on your original photo, I'm taking that back and apologizing. I don't recall seeing that you had posted the size of your individual at only 1" and one of your photos really does look like male organs.
The spermathecae looks different in smaller females than it does in the photo that was posted showing a mature female. I found the photo I took of my female at 2.75" and I posted it in the spermathecae album here. Did you do a search on the spermathecae album? Because that is a great resource to look at comparisons. Anyway, there was even a comment made on my photo of how different younger spermathecae looks compared to mature females of some species.
This is the photo of my immature female at 2.75" that shows that the spermathecae has not fused together yet. This does look like what you have in your photo.

 

[JamesGSixx]

Okay, if I said that this was a male at some point, either here or on your original photo, I'm taking that back and apologizing. I don't recall seeing that you had posted the size of your individual at only 1" and one of your photos really does look like male organs.
The spermathecae looks different in smaller females than it does in the photo that was posted showing a mature female. I found the photo I took of my female at 2.75" and I posted it in the spermathecae album here. Did you do a search on the spermathecae album? Because that is a great resource to look at comparisons. Anyway, there was even a comment made on my photo of how different younger spermathecae looks compared to mature females of some species.
This is the photo of my immature female at 2.75" that shows that the spermathecae has not fused together yet. This does look like what you have in your photo.
View attachment 297885

Yeah this specie is quite difficult to gender when you don't know about the fusion of the spermathecae. which in this case, i didn't know as well. All the other species i own have the same spermathecae when sling to adulthood so i was quite confused. Thanks for the input!

@JamesGSixx - you will have to remove the google pic. On here you are only allowed to post your own pics. Replace the pic with a link.

@Theneil - that's not a long shot at all because that's exactly what happens. This is a female.

I didn't know tarantulas change spermathecae as they grow older. there's not much input on that with information sites. Thank you for your advice!