Eye's

[Kirdec]

Hi everybady, do the eye's has always the same position ?

I saw a picture lately and the eye's looked in a weird formation to me!

http://static.flickr.com/46/129421785_19ed147bd0_o.jpg

instead of those:

http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/6513/he...afemale013z.jpg

[mary walters]

Be honest I thought they were all they same in T's, will have to take a close look at mine.

Mary

[Phil Messenger]

The top pic is not a theraphosid, so will differ more, In theraphosid the ocular arrangements do differ between genus / species.

examples

P.miranda


P.pulcher


C.brachcephalus

[Larry Loos]

Look close?

Mary- I wouldn't look "too" close..
I believe that mygalomorphs for the most part have the same eye arrangements in general. These would be arranged as such:

The anterior eye row is centeralized and closest to the chelicera. The posterior eyes are centeralized and to the rear. The lateral eyes reside to the outside of the eye row and, often face backward increasing the spider's field of view.

Addition: the medial eye, anterior and posterior are the set of eyes that reside in the center of the eye row. This as far as I know would be common to all species that we call tarantulas.

Next time you get a good exuvium examine it closely along with the Ocular Tubercle on the carapace and you will see what I speak of. If you do not have access to a microscope then a common jeweler's loop works fine. You'll find it quite interesting and it should answer basic questions you may have about their eye arrangements. Additionally, if you do examine it turn the carapace over on a paper towel and you will see just how clear the eye sockets are. They are not unlike glass..quite clear actually. Non-related: eyes are often the only way to produce positive I.D. of some spider groups. The brown recluse being one. Many true spiders have similar markings and looks. Only the eye arrangement can produce a positive I.D. on this and other species.

[mary walters]

Worry not Larry, I don't get 'too' close as I am scared of 'em.

Mary

[Ian Metcalfe]

If you look at a lot of description papers it shows the arrangement of eyes to help in identification.

[Larry Loos]

Scared of em'..

Mary, you should never be "scared" of anything that you keep as an interest. I know what you are saying. Respect might be a more approiate term. Apprehension I also could understand. Especially with more aggressive species. It is only when one disrespects a wild creature that we suffer the result. Generally a good scare or even perhaps a bite if one is not quick enough. But you should not fear them Mary.

We tend to think of our captive creatures as "pets" for some reason when in fact, they are not pets in any way, shape or form. They are wild living things held captive by our desire to own and or study them. Nothing more.

Think of them as Amazing, Fantastic, Exotic, even Alien in some ways compared to our own human form. They are truly Outragous, Weird, Preposterous and Bizarre in their own way. But then Mary..so are we as well in our own way. It is easy to forget sometimes that we are not humans trying to live a spiritual life, but rather, spirits trying to live a human life. So we are all truly amazing life forms in our own way. We are not so distant from them as one might imagine.
Cheers!