What's your FAVORITE Aphonopelma species, and why???

Great Basin Ben

Arachnosquire
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Oct 2, 2010
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86
Hi there everyone, I am wondering if any of you that have ANY experience with our native North American Tarantulas, would like to offer any advice as to WHICH is your favorite Aphonopelma species, and if so, why. I'm BRAND NEW to Tarantulas, so I'm sure that there are MANY varieties of this Genus that I'm unfamiliar with, so please feel free to expand on the list.

A. chalcodes
A. hentzi
A. eutylenum
A. seemani (not North American, but a very familiar Aphonopelma species)
A. anax
A. iodium
A. nevadanum
A. mojave
and last but not least that I'm familiar with is A. moderatum

According to ZOO Zipcode, there are approx. 106 sub species of the Genus Aphonopelma.

As well, I've seen what appear to be MANY sub-species varieties of A. chalcodes, or the Desert Blonde Tarantula) like the Payson, New River, Carlsbad, ect...

I'd LOVE to hear any info that you may have. Good experiences, GREAT experiences, tempermants, ect... I don't really know if this is worthy of a poll (yet), but after I can narrow it down to 4 or 5 Aphonopelma species, then perhaps.

MANY THANKS to all, and Take care,
Ben.
 

Hentzi

Arachnoknight
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Aug 9, 2008
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A. hentzi is my firm personal favourite as well as being my first Tarantula, very placid nature good eater well mine is. As a rule I don't handle any of my Tarantulas but if I ever had to Aphonopelma's I would with no problems. You have to be patient with Aphonopelma's though as they are slow to do anything if you are patient get one .

A Chalcodes are just the same imo.
 

sja69

Arachnopeon
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May 16, 2010
Messages
28
I love the look of the Moderatum and would love to get one when a sling becomes available.
 

Sutekh

Arachnopeon
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Nov 17, 2008
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17
Bicoloratum is my favorite :)
Gotta second that! I hope Hope HOPE that it's a female (their coloration is amazing). I chose it over B. boehmei as they don't have the hair flicking reputation that boehmei does (same pattern...only boehmei is a little redder orange than bicoloratum).
A. moorae seems to be very rare, but if colored like it looks like online then it is very stunning (like a GBB!)
Of course with most Aphonopelma they grow VEEEEERRRRYYYYY slowly, so I hope you're a patient person. The good part of the slow growth though is that if you get a female it might live 30 years!
 

Terry D

Arachnodemon
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Nov 21, 2009
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Guess I'm gonna have to stick with the home-t's and say A hentzi. :)

You just can't beat that deep chocolate brown and tan-colored carapace. Then you have mm's with their blacker coloration on legs and fire red hairs on the black opisthosoma. I know......that sorta describes quite a few U.S. species
 

possumburg

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Aug 8, 2010
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I have 3 hentzis and they are awesome, great eaters constantly busy working on their burrows. Just an all around great species.
 

jt39565

Arachnoknight
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Aug 28, 2010
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I can only speak for the little 1.5" A. anax that I have, it has almost a King baboon attitude. Gotta like that ! definitely a genus I want to get to know better.
 

Great Basin Ben

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Oct 2, 2010
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I have 3 hentzis and they are awesome, great eaters constantly busy working on their burrows. Just an all around great species.
I have YET to read about anyone who didn't say almost these exact same things about the hentzis. I AM actually quite a patient person, and I don't think their slow growing stature is much of a problem for me. The reports ALL seem to mirror this one, that hentzis are quite amiable, neat little critters! I am definately looking to add some to my collection.

Has ANYONE here had any experience with A. nevadanum? Being from Nevada, I'm guessing that this is my best chance at a wild caught variety, within a short drive from my house. Although, I wonder if what we have here in Northern Nevada are actually another variety, or even sub variety of chalcodes???
 

Anubis77

Arachnoknight
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Aug 15, 2005
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As well, I've seen what appear to be MANY sub-species varieties of A. chalcodes, or the Desert Blonde Tarantula) like the Payson, New River, Carlsbad, ect...
Subspecies aren't used with tarantulas, but your line of thinking is more on par to the probable reality of the taxonomic situation. A lot of the locality labels are just that, localities. Not entirely different species like we may wish they were. The whole genus is going to be cut down in size with future revisions most likely.

Aphonopelma is my favorite genus. It's the only one I get to see in the wild, and see it I do. As much as I like the big tan and black spiders, A. behlei wins out. They're smaller and not so friendly, but they're my unattainable species. I've only ever found a male in the wild and someone gave me a female. Never found a female in all my trips to Payson.



And if we're talking slow growth rates, this is a 3 year old spiderling:



I bought it in 2007, and it hardly hits 0.5" today.

Has ANYONE here had any experience with A. nevadanum? Being from Nevada, I'm guessing that this is my best chance at a wild caught variety, within a short drive from my house. Although, I wonder if what we have here in Northern Nevada are actually another variety, or even sub variety of chalcodes???
It's A. iodius actually. A. chalcodes doesn't extend into Nevada. Definitely not into the Reno area.
 
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possumburg

Arachnosquire
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Aug 8, 2010
Messages
95
Subspecies aren't used with tarantulas, but your line of thinking is more on par to the probable reality of the taxonomic situation. A lot of the locality labels are just that, localities. Not entirely different species like we may wish they were. The whole genus is going to be cut down in size with future revisions most likely.

Aphonopelma is my favorite genus. It's the only one I get to see in the wild, and see it I do. As much as I like the big tan and black spiders, A. behlei wins out. They're smaller and not so friendly, but they're my unattainable species. I've only ever found a male in the wild and someone gave me a female. Never found a female in all my trips to Payson.



And if we're talking slow growth rates, this is a 3 year old spiderling:



I bought it in 2007, and it hardly hits 0.5" today.



It's A. iodius actually. A. chalcodes doesn't extend into Nevada. Definitely not into the Reno area.
Now that is one beaut of a spider!
 

Great Basin Ben

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Oct 2, 2010
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+100 to ^ comment. That's ONE REMARKABLE Tarantula.

I had heard that the Tarantulas here in the high desert around Reno, were A. iodius. Several friends, on a rockclimbing weekend, last weekend, found a LARGE population, of what I will hopefully be able to confirm as iodius. Do the A. nevadanum exist solely in the Vegas part of the State? I have been looking for as much specific info about the various species of Aphonopelma as I can, as I find them to be one of the Genus that also fascinates me most. I wish it were as simple as a copy of Aphonopelma for Dummies, but somehow I doubt it's going to be that simple. HAHA!
 

Versi*JP*Color

Arachnoknight
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May 11, 2010
Messages
203
+100 to ^ comment. That's ONE REMARKABLE Tarantula.

I had heard that the Tarantulas here in the high desert around Reno, were A. iodius. Several friends, on a rockclimbing weekend, last weekend, found a LARGE population, of what I will hopefully be able to confirm as iodius. Do the A. nevadanum exist solely in the Vegas part of the State? I have been looking for as much specific info about the various species of Aphonopelma as I can, as I find them to be one of the Genus that also fascinates me most. I wish it were as simple as a copy of Aphonopelma for Dummies, but somehow I doubt it's going to be that simple. HAHA!
Like he mentioned, there is no a.nevadanum.
In Nevada the prime tarantula (from what i've read) is Iodius.

BTW T's like A sp New Rivers are not a subspecies with Chalcodes
COMPLETELY different
 

Great Basin Ben

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Like he mentioned, there is no a.nevadanum.
In Nevada the prime tarantula (from what i've read) is Iodius.

BTW T's like A sp New Rivers are not a subspecies with Chalcodes
COMPLETELY different
Of the 106 species of the Aphonopelma Genus, A. nevadanum is a valid species listing. However, to my understanding, New River, Payson, Mesa Mountain ect, are all just variants of the A. chalcodes. Is there any peer reviewed literature that can confirm or deny this?

Again, I wish it were as simple as Aphonopelma for Dummies.

It does make sense that the Sierras probably have isolated the California varieties from the Nevadan ones, but the Chalcodes is native to a bordering State in Arizona. While they might not have wandered this far north, could it be assertainable that the iodius and the chalcodes, at some point shared the same vicinities, breeding grounds, prey, and habitat? To take it a step farther, I think that the iodius species, was isolated long enough, at more Northern lattitudes, that it evolved to be able to winter over in MUCH colder climates; but short of this small adaptive variation, they are still VERY MUCH like their hentzi, anax, or moderatum counterparts, in terms of habitat, biology, fecundity, and longevity. I simply wonder if ALL North American species of Tarantula, that belong to the Genus Aphonopelma, were merely isolated sub-species of what, at one point, was essentially a generic homogenous "North American Tarantula".
 

Anubis77

Arachnoknight
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Of the 106 species of the Aphonopelma Genus, A. nevadanum is a valid species listing. However, to my understanding, New River, Payson, Mesa Mountain ect, are all just variants of the A. chalcodes. Is there any peer reviewed literature that can confirm or deny this?
As far as A. nevadanum goes: http://research.amnh.org/iz/spiders/catalog/THERAPHOSIDAE.html

Search for the species name. It's a synonym for A. iodius. This is the site to go when you want the most accurate species listing of Theraphosidae.

Brent Hendrixson is working on revising the Aphonopelma genus. His results won't be published in the near future though, so Aphonopelma will remain a mess for a few more years.
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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I'm a fan of the little ones. I have an A. huachua and an A. witchitanum that are just awesome lil gals. The huachua is feisty too! I'm actually not sure if A. witchitanum is a dwarf or not. The 2.5" specimen in mt T room seems to have mature coloration so... (shrugs). If she ever molts I'll see how much she grows. (Been almost a year now)
 

Great Basin Ben

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Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
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As far as A. nevadanum goes: http://research.amnh.org/iz/spiders/catalog/THERAPHOSIDAE.html

Search for the species name. It's a synonym for A. iodius. This is the site to go when you want the most accurate species listing of Theraphosidae.

Brent Hendrixson is working on revising the Aphonopelma genus. His results won't be published in the near future though, so Aphonopelma will remain a mess for a few more years.
MANY MANY THANKS for this!!! I'll also be eagerly awaiting Hendrixson's paper. This is excellent to know, and I shall use THIS reference from this point forward, to look up any of these Aphonopelma species related musings. THIS IS AWESOME!
 

Harlock

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I'd have to agree with the A. behlei. Mines a sweetheart though. I'd choose her over my A. waconum, and hentzi.
 

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TomM

Arachnobaron of Pennsylvania
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Oct 15, 2009
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448
A. hentzi is my firm personal favourite as well as being my first Tarantula, very placid nature good eater well mine is. As a rule I don't handle any of my Tarantulas but if I ever had to Aphonopelma's I would with no problems. You have to be patient with Aphonopelma's though as they are slow to do anything if you are patient get one.
+1 ... I got an A. hentzi as my first T, definitely a good decision. In general, they are a lot slower than other T's and a lot more manageable for beginners. The only downside is the extremely slow growth. I got a .75" hentzi and a 1" LP almost exactly a year ago to the day, the hentzi is only 1" now and the LP is 6" (although the LP is male, not sure of the hentzi's sex).
 
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