Sexing Tarantulas

[DBaines]

I was reading an interesting article about sexing Tarantulas by Dr Robert Gale Breene 111 the bit that interested mr the most was this section of the article :-

Sexing By Male Spinnerets
Male tarantulas and some other groups of spiders have silk-producing organs near their
genital openings called epiandrous glands. These glands lead out to tiny spinneret spigots
in a crescent shape above the epigastric furrow. These tiny spigots, along with an
accompanying dense patch of setae, form a “half moon” shape. This telltale structure is
easy to see in some species, but is very difficult to see in others. Some report they can
spot the structure in even small immature males with the naked eye.
In Aphonopelma anax, a high power stereomicroscope is often needed, even with adult
males. So determining sex using this method may not be applicable to all species.

Now i have not heard of this before i was only aware that spinnerets were at the posterior part of the abdomen and not the anterior part of the abdomen??????????????????

Is it possible that some one could shed some more light on this please as i find it most puzzling??????????????

Many thanks
Darren

[DBaines]

thanks for all your replys NOT




I have been given the information on another forum who have been very helpfull in supplying the information i asked for.

[preet_raithatha]

very sorry my friend! wish i could help but i have no idea about sexing Ts...im just a beginner really!

[DBaines]

Thats ok not to worry. I am a relative new comer as well and i thought with a lot of people very clued up on tarantulas in the bts i might have got the info i was seeking or pointed me in the right direction but it was not to be.
But not to worry i have the info i was after

[preet_raithatha]

good to hear you finally got your info! care to share it with us as its very interesting and im sure there are some peeps here who would like to know more about this anonymous method?

Thanks

Preet

[DBaines]

Heres the link to the info i was after and its very informative about the subject with some very good pic's showing the difference between males and females.

http://www.birdspiders.com/faq_sex.html

[Guy Tansley]

i thought with a lot of people very clued up on tarantulas in the bts i might have got the info i was seeking or pointed me in the right direction but it was not to be.

This method of sexing is still relatively new in the hobby so not many people are 'clued-up' on the subject. The article you reference contains all the info you need and it maybe the only one available on the internet at the moment.

Please remember that not everyone reads these fora regularly and even less people may have answers to your questions.
If you have indeed got all the information you require then please share it

[Ray Hale]

Hi dbaines,

sorry you did not recieve the infromation you had been seeking from the BTS,but has Guy points out not everyone checks the forum daily. I have often, as I am sure most of you know, replied to the forum questions.
In the past myself an other BTS Committe members have not replied to a thread to allow it to run a little. Thats what its all about. More often than not we reply to a topic and then the thread dies......dont ask me why.

I had seen you posting and was intrigued and set about looking into it for you. I personally will not reply to a topic unless I am sure of the reply. So many times we see hasty replies posted and red faces all around. I checked a few refernces and would have reponded in due time as I am sure other BTS members would.

Sexing tarantulas is a specilaist field and one that John Hancock pioneered some time ago. The BTS runs a sexing course available through Richard Gallon.

I always welcome personal e-maiils on any spider subject and I do reply to them all. (I do check my e-mails every day).
Once again sorry if you felt let down but at the end of the day we all do this for the love of the tarantula on a voluntary basis and we do put a lot of time and effort in to the running of both the site and the society.

Ray Hale BTS Committee

[Ray Hale]

Having read the article I can honestly say that this method of sexing is new to me. I have been sexing tarantulas for a long time using the trusted Hancock method and was surprised to see this. Never the less I would be interested in seeing the sexing and clinical data used to substantiate the method. If it works then well done to Mike Hart. I am sure the BTS would welcome the article for the Journal.

Ray Hale

[Mark Pennell]

Hi All
I had this article sent to me four or five years back by Mark Hart at West Coast Zoological. It was on there site for a long time, until they stopped trading.

I forwarded it to the then editor Peter Kirk; unfortunately it never featured in the BTS Journal.

I am sure it never featured in the ATS journal either. It’s a little known technique that never really caught on. I think it’s because on certain species it’s very hard to spot the differences.

I know its widely used in Europe and you will often see the European visitors and traders at the BTS Expo checking the undersides tarantulas.

This is one of those threads that if you wanted a response quickly then a direct email to me or anyone else may have see results quicker.

So I apologies, that you never got the response you needed. I should have spotted it and looked it up on my old disks. Ray has covered everything else.

Once again sorry for the slow response

Mark

[DBaines]

Hi Guy's
First i must appologise for my sarcastic remarks as they were a bit uncalled for and i should have left the thread run a bit longer.

I am a relative new commer to the hobby and have many reference books on tarantulas none of wich mentions the above and this article intrigued me alot so i posted the thread on 2 forums and the 1 thought i would get a quick and accurate response from didnt deliver the goods. I do understand that you are all very buisey people and reaserching a new subject can be time consuming.

I find all reaserch very interesting and especially Taxonomy allthough it is a little bit over my head i still enjoy reading Taxonomic papers and trying to find out anything i don't understand very labouring but very enjoyable.

Ray i have been in touch with Richard Gallon about the sexing course and he replied he is not taking any students on at the minute due to a lack of materials as i understand it but i am really looking forward to doing the course in the near future.

I have been buisey with my hand lenses with some of my Tarantulas and have noticed the differences in some of the Tarantulas and have marked what i think the sexes are in my records i will hopefully confirm my guesses when i get the next moulted exuvium's from the Tarantulas i have sexed by using this new spinneret method. I will let you know the outcome of this in the future.

Thanks for all your replys on the subject and hopefully the article might appear in a future BTS journal for every one to read as it is very interesting.

All the best
Darren

[Kristine]

You know that link was fascinating reading. I personally am new to the hobby too.. I diligently read every book I could get my hands on about tarantulas before I bought my girl... I have had her for just over a year now and I have discovered so many things that I didn't know, and experienced some things that worry me...


I have found that just reading the messages on this forum have been a great help, and have stopped me having sleepless nights worrying about my girl.