Tarantula ID

[Samantha Lewanewsky]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.

I bought this spider as a Haplopelma minax, it last moulted about a month or so ago.
The pics not very good lol

It's not very aggressive, just a little jumpy, it's also made a deep burrow.

The H.minax's i've seen in pictures are very dark brown to black, so I guessed that mine must be a different species.

I'm not even sure it's a haplopelma, a couple of people have said it could be an Ornithoctonus species.

Can anyone help?

Cheers
Sam

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Sam
I also have a H minax that just doesn't look "quite right", saying that she doesn't look that different to yours and those that i've shown her to say it's almost certainly a minax as they have a considerable range of colours they show.
I suppose i could send her off to be keyed out and ID'd but i'm happy with her as she is. I have no intention to breed from her at the mo, if however this changes i'll be pestering some of the more knowledgeable Haplopelma experts on here for a positive ID.

[Matthew Baines]

Looks very similar too the haplopelma sp ' vietnam' i am getting. But im not an expert on earthtigers just yet. Give it time tho.

[Colin D Wilson]

The sp. vietnam was a guesstimate an associate had on mine, I'm still not quite sure..

[Samantha Lewanewsky]

Thanks for your help Colin and Matthew!

Doesn't look like the sp. vietnam, the carapace is a little dark and the markings on my spiders abdomen are a much bolder.

Well I've got a spiderling H.minax, so when it grows up a bit I'll compare any differences.
She looked quite dark when I got her, but she was due to moult.
I could swear it's a different spider, for a couple of weeks or so after it moulted it had a greeny carapace, spinnerets were really orange and the legs were quite blue.
She still has quite orangey bits, especially when I shine a light on her.
I found this piccy, it does look quite like her.

http://ukrm.org/lopez/site/pic/hlongipes04.jpg

Do you think she could be a longipes?

Thanks
Sam

[Matthew Baines]

or maybe a haplopelma hainanum

[Samantha Lewanewsky]

The hainanum does look a lot like her.

[Matthew Baines]

sounds good , they are great i have a juvie myself and they are really timid (so far from what i can tell)!

[Samantha Lewanewsky]

After looking at pictures of H.hainanum and H.longipes it's definatly a toss up between the two.

Here's a pic of her just after she'd moulted, see what I mean about the orangey bits and greeny carapace ?

[Phil Rea]

Leg IV is significantly longer for Haplopelma longipes. The ratio between Leg I and Leg IV is > 90.

Multiply the length of Leg I by 100, and divide it by the length of Leg IV. If the answer is > 90 then it is likely H. longipes

Above info from VON WIRTH, V. & STRIFFLER, B. F. (2005): Neue Erkenntnisse zur Vogelspinnen – Unterfamilie Ornithoctoninae, mit Beschreibung von Ornithoctonus aureotibialis sp. n. und Haplopelma longipes sp. n. (Araneae, Theraphosidae). Arthropoda 13(2): 2-27.

[Samantha Lewanewsky]

Ahhhhh maths! :-O



I measured as best I could, and worked it out, came to 88!

[Nicola Dolby]

Phil, could you please now run by that again for me as I don't understand the technical stuff. I get the bit about leg sizes but what is <90 or <110? millimeters?

[Phil Rea]

Phil, could you please now run by that again for me as I don't understand the technical stuff. I get the bit about leg sizes but what is <90 or <110? millimeters?

It's the ratio between the leg lengths Nicola, quoted as RF in the paper (and it only works for females I should have mentioned!).

[Colin D Wilson]

Welcome back Phil.

Whats your opinion on the image i posted

[Phil Rea]

Welcome back Phil.

Whats your opinion on the image i posted

Cheers Colin

I wouldn't like to say really, as I haven't kept sp. 'Vietnam' myself (although I did have a couple of H. longipes at one point), and I know precious little about Haplopelma.

Try and get in touch with someone like Volker von Wirth, Boris Striffler, or Søren Rafn. I'm sure they'd be able to swiftly point you in the right direction