SP confuses me?

[Ian Hall]

I am new to the hobby so please understand.....

I keep seeing these 2 letters in certain species names (SP) for example Aphonopelma sp. "Blue, and Selenotypus sp.

If I had to guess I'd think it would mean... Aphonopelma "SPECIES" Blue.

I dont know.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Matthew Baines]

You got it spot on first time. SP means species. Usually used for undescribed or unidentified species

[Ian Hall]

Thanks mate.

Another silly question for you....

Why do some names have it and others don't?

[Craig Mackay]

As Matthew says if it has sp "something" then its a species which hasn't been described. For example Aphonopelma sp "blue" is a species which hasn't been described whereas Aphonopelma chalcodes is a species which has. One day someone may describe Aphonoplema sp "blue" and then it would get a more formal latin name without the sp bit. It's kinda like a temporary working title so that we can still identify the species even though it hasn't been described yet. Hope that clears things up for you.

[Ian Hall]

Clear as day thanks Craig!

[Craig Mackay]

Good stuff, if you've any other questions then fire away.

[Ian Hall]

Thanks,

There will be more questions!

[Phil Rea]

One day someone may describe Aphonoplema sp "blue" and then it would get a more formal latin name without the sp bit.

Scientific name, not Latin

Another scenario is that the spider could already have been described (i.e. already have a scientific name), but no one has compared it to either the original published description or one of the types, so it is temporarily unknown. For example Cyriopagopus sp. blue, is now known as Lampropelma violaceopes (which was originally described by H. C. Abraham in 1924).

It can be relatively straightforward to work out the genus that a spider falls into if it's not a new one (waits for the flames ), so that the first part of the name (e.g. Aphonopelma) can be determined, but to pin down a specimen to a single species is enormously more difficult for various reasons.

[Craig Mackay]

Scientific name, not Latin

Whoops, my bad.Cheers for clearing that up Phil

[Richard Gallon]

Avicularia sp. (relates to an unidentified or undescribed single species).
Avicularia spp. (relates to more than one unidentified or undescribed species).

ssp. (this is often added before a subspecies name, but to be honest isn't used that often).

Note that whilst the genus, species and subspecies names are always written in italics, the "sp., spp. and ssp." are not.

Hope that helps,
Richard

PS. I don't know how to get it to italicise things on this board

[Matthew Baines]

PS. I don't know how to get it to italicise things on this board

Click the funky slanted I button Richard

[Phil Rea]

PS. I don't know how to get it to italicise things on this board

Enclose the word in [ I] and [ /I] Without the spaces, and Avicularia spp. becomes Avicularia spp.

Alternatively if you go into your User CP, then Edit Options, check that Message Editor Interface is set to 'Standard Editor - Extra formatting commands', and you'll have a word style toolbar at the top of the message box. You can then just highlight what you want to italicise, and click the I button

[Ian Hall]

Another "confusing me" question.

Hi again everyone, Thought it would be best to but this question in this thread instead of making a new thread.

What and how?

What is instar?

How do you know what "instar" a T is?

thanks peeps !!!

[Peter Lacey]

instar relates to stages between moults and therefore the number relates to how many moults its had eg. 4th instar = it has moulted 4 times.
This doesnt include the moulting of the chorion during the embryonic stages.

I think everyone stops counting after a handful of moults perhaps because this usually records the development stage of slings - hopefully someone can enlighten us a bit more on this.

[Ian Hall]

I've found this helpful little insert in Tarantula Keepers Guide saying that the embryo sheds the chorin (egg, considered not to be the future spiders skin or exoskeleton so is not considered a molt) becoming the postembryo lives entirely of the nutrition stored in the egg. Then eventually molting becoming first instar.

So like you say Peter, after each molt the instar count goes up.