complete change of clothes

[Ed Sherman]

Have you guys and gals got any ideas what this T is? I snagged her earlier this year at a local fish/small animal store and after looking decided it was either an A. hentzi or an A. anax. Earlier this week she shed and now I'm more confused than ever as she looks like a pulchra after the molt. She's approx 5.5" in span and just as gentile as a newborn lamb.

Before:





After pics:

[rico pampolina]

I'm not sure but probably not Grammostola pulchra. Since post molt G. pulchra have stunning black in the carapace, no light brown in color and no red setae in the abdomen. Anyways that is cute specimen you have there.

This is the classic example of my adult female G. pulchra (post molt)

[Ed Sherman]

I'm leaning towards Aphonopelma sp. "California" but am still not sure. Good thing they're all basically the same care wise I'm fairly certain it's not a pulchra.

[James Box]

cool!
my first A chalcodes did this too...however, it was HIS maturing moult. yours is clearly not a mature male, though...
very nice spider though! i wonder if she'll fade to those other colours again?

[Ed Sherman]

I broke down today and bothered Rick West with these pictures. According to him "Yes, it is extremely common for a pale golden brown Aphonopelma sp. to molt to a gun metal blue/black ... sometimes, the color phase in captivity never returns to the nicer wild color phase. No one knows why this occurs ... diet, stress? "

Whoo-hoo another wrinkle in the noggin today.

The closest determination he gave was Aphonopelma anax based on color of carapace pre molt, but, it's not 100% on that.

[James Box]

i think it'd even be hard for those on par with Andrew Smith or Stuart Longhorn to ID an Aphonopelma 100% from pics, especially a live one...but maybe you could send the exuvium? even then it won't be 100% but can help

[Ed Sherman]

It's a "second hand" T and the locality is impossible to determine making an exact ID near impossible. The upside -- nearly every native (US) Aphonopelma has the same care standards. I'm not saying I won't send the exuvium if someone has a good idea of a taxonomist who's willing to try, but I've pretty much hit the wall ID wise and can safely call her Aphonopelma sp. "Unknown possibly anax" lol.

Thanks for the replies all.

[James Box]

haha! i've got a few of those as well, though "possibly hentzi", "possibly this", and "possibly that"
oh the fun of Aphonopelmas!
but yeah luckily the same care is needed for most of them!