New to BTS; Can anybody tell me about pampho's?

[Brandon Anderson]

P.sp. platyomma

as far as the photos go, it looks identicle to the pics both I and Ethan have posted, one thing I have noticed on P sp platyomma is that it differs consistantly w/ P sp. nigricolor in that the purple diamond on the carapace in P sp platyomma is thickened around the ocular region, forward portion & the P sp. nigricolor have a more uniform diamond, being the same thickness on all sides, in that same light, the diamond on all the P sp. ecuador 1,2,3,4... I have had is not only thickened in that same area but spreads out to cover about 1/4-1/3 of the front of the carapace I dont know if this feature is consistant w/ other peoples findings and it looses its realivence when the males and females of all of the above P. sp. spiders mature as it disipates on the females and is too inconsistant on the males to comment on, some of the P sp. platyomma have only a verry slight diamond pattern to the carapace and it is a tannish pink color throughout, even at the same size as litter/clutch mates of the same sack. here are some pix to kinda show what I mean, like I said it has been consistant w/ all the individuals I have kept, that have been labled as above, I'd be intrested to know if others have noticed it as well, PEACE, B.

P sp. nigricolor female


P. sp. platyomma female


P sp. ecuador 1 male


P sp platyomma ocasionaly having no pronounced diamond patern


Sorry for the small pix, the format here is a bit differant than on AB but if you click on the pic you should get a bigger image thanks, B.

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi Brendan,

Nice pics, here is the dilema

"What are the taxonomical features to separate the different species of Pamphobeteus?"

Colour is not stable, especially after 100 years in alchohol, answer is ??

no one as yet can say........................what is a distinct taxonomical feature and what is variation within a species?

This is why a revision has to be done and as many specimens of each species examined, which is one reason why Richard and i are trying to build up the theraphosid collections in Oxford University and the Natural History Museum, so current and future taxonomists have the material to work from.

Sonny,

Thanks for the offer of the pics, put we wont be able to identify them to species for the reasons mentioned.

Ray

[James Box]

speaking of how confusing identifying species can be, and how colour isn't a good way to differentiate, it might be helpful to look at this page i've been reading. it's not about pampho's but baboon spiders, but the principle is exactly the same:
http://www.baboonspiders.de/html_en/behaviour.html, in particular the second paragraph.
now, look at the gallery page containing P chordatus.http://www.baboonspiders.de/galerie.php?lang=en&go=3
notice the extreme differences in colouring? who would have known this was one species? well, people who studied them thoroughly, like Richard Gallon, for example.
i think if this species, as one example (Avics and P murinus are another two), can have so many colour variants yet be one species, and we know there are separate species that are hard to tell apart because of similar colouring (genera Selenocosmia, Coremiocnemus and Chilobrachys, if i'm not mistaken are good examples), it only makes sense why some genera, especially ones in which there still remains loads to learn, could be subject to loads of misidentification and confusion. hopefully it will be straightened out, but in the meantime we have to expect that we may be sold species under wrong names (hopefully not maliciously or carelessly, but it does happen, unfortunately), and we must be doubly careful with breeding, otherwise the mess will only get worse!

taxonomy is a difficult science, if i understand even a fraction of it, and we must all have patience as things will get revised again and again. nature is hard to categorise, but we need to do it to protect the species as well as have the purist information possible.
so thanks to Ray and Richard and all others working hard on this!

[Taki Tsonis]

Thanks Ray, but if I showed you my T in real life, you could at least be fairly sure of what it is. Now my point is that we cannot all wait for our T's to pass on before sending them off to be identified taxonomically so my point is that we going to have to rely on very good pics to at least hazard an educated guess, not so?
I figure if we all gonna learn as a community, forums such as this are the best way! Therefore members posting pics of their T's are essential and never going to stop, so albeit a risky business id'ing T's from pics, it has to be done as an educated guess with a 'IMO' at the end, and a reason for thinking it's this species or that species, preferably with some sort of characteristic description to go with it.
Well that's my take on it, I would love to be cruising the world finding species in their natural enviroment, but it's not going to happen, so I need to learn as much from my own collection and the forums .
ps. I fully agree that there will always be 'know it all's' that will mess things up a bit, but I would be happy if I got an answer from someone who has a reputation and knowledge, and then make my own mind up!

[Colin D Wilson]

Taki,

There is one thing that causes a problem when passing on images to study, this is the differences between how individual people have their monitor settings.
Patterning and markings will remain constant obviously but there will be slight variations in colour if one person has their monitor set on a warm setting and another on a cool setting, brightness and contrast will have a bearing on this too.

As a graphic designer i calibrate my monitor visually against Pantone colour charts to get as accurate as i can.

Colin

p.s. Nice photography, if i've not said it before!!