¿Aphonopelma chalcodes?

[Dario Quiza]

Hi people. This is my first post in this forum, and I spect some help Thx .

I recently aquired what is supposed to be an Aphonopelma chalcodes. This is the creature :



But I'm not sure of the species... I've seen other pics of A. chalcodes, and seems to be brighter, more blonde... The femurs aren't so darker, one of my references are the pics of the gallery on this forum.

I've been looking over the net, Because I know about other species, living in the same locations than A. chalcodes, as A. clarki, A. schmidti... And I'm not metioning undescribed species, as ssp. New River, Flagstaff Orange, Payson Blonde (probably this species are already described ssp...). I've been looking Rick West's gallery too, and his supposed A. chalcodes and color variants... That looks like mine... ??

So what do you think? Any idea? A. chalcodes? A. clarki? What else?

Thaks and greetings



PD: sorry about my english, I need more practise...

[James Box]

wow that's a stunning creature!
as i'm sure you know, colour isn't the best to go on, as i'm told there is alot of variation.
it's possible the location from where it was collected (if it's possible to find out) might hold a clue or two...
i wish i could be more help but i'm only just learning about this fantastic genus myself.
if colour ends up being a factor...it does resemble my "new rivers" as well as a "flagstaff orange" i've seen. i'm not 100% sure what the differences are...
to make it worse, i've heard chalcodes can look quite a lot like that.

[Dario Quiza]

Yeah, color variation doesn't say all about a T, but is a big part of it's genetic code, as espermatecae, etc...

I'm sure that this is a different species than mine...

http://thebts.co.uk/forums/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/149/ppuser/10

Not only the color, see it's ocular block, size of the quelicerae... It's far to be the same T that I got.

About location... hehe. I bought her (I wish is her) in the last Expoterraria show event in Madrid, so... Location, the show hahaha

Well, I'll keep looking Thx.

Greetings.



Edit: I've remenbered the box where she came, it's seems to come from Mexico... LOL

[James Box]

that's something then!
i think there's still some mystery about these amazing spiders, and the geographic differences that have been seen within species etc.
colour may be part of the DNA but the fact they fade towards a new moult plus environmental factors (evidently amount of light and humidity for some species) make it more than unreliable.
for instance, i have a trio of New Rivers...they looked like some chalcodes with slightly reddish setae on the abdomen and darker femurs...and then they moulted, and came out with the same colour as yours...
but regardless...yeah i think you're basing your comparisons on some good features, size of the ocular tubercle and the chelicerae etc. comparing against the bristles is another key thing, i think...but that's not easy!

you may have to mark it down as just Aphonopelma sp as i've had to do
with some of mine i have no idea of their collection location! just seeing what they grow into is half the fun!

[Stanley A. Schultz]

Hi people. This is my first post in this forum, and I spect some help Thx .

I recently aquired what is supposed to be an Aphonopelma chalcodes. ... But I'm not sure of the species... So what do you think? Any idea? A. chalcodes? A. clarki? What else?
...

"Picture keying" is almost guaranteed to misidentify your tarantula. However, the photo you present is very good and I can see nothing there to suggest it isn't A. chalcodes, and everything that suggests it is.

For what it's worth, the photo shown at http://thebts.co.uk/forums/gallery/s.../149/ppuser/10 does not look like the typical A. chalcodes that I'm familiar with, and we've caught, or possessed and sold hundreds over the decades. Unless someone with an exemplary reputation had actually dissected that precise specimen and made a secure identification, I would accept it on a very tentative basis only.

An example of how picture keying can be very misleading is that A. chalcodes and A. moderatum resemble each other rather closely in that they both are sort of tan (actually varying between beige and almost orange) with a dark colored abdomen and dark (varying from light gray to nearly black) markings on their legs. If you have a copy of the second edition of the Tarantula Keeper`s Guide handy, compare the front cover photo with yours. The Guide`s photo is A. moderatum.

The telling way to distinguish them is that A. moderatum has a jet black venter ("belly") while A. chalcodes has a tan/brown venter. (Note that once you get the two next to each other you can see other differences as well.) Your photo does not show us the belly, so we would have no good way of distinguishing between the two species if that's what they might have been.

Whatever it is, it`s a handsome tarantula.

Hope this helps.

[Dario Quiza]

Ok, I'll think for the moment that it is a A. chalcodes. Thx.

Changing topic... What size can it reach?

Greetings.

[Adz_Smith]

Looks to me could be an Aphonopelma moderatum, having said that many vary similarly and depending on lighting could alter colouration.

[Dario Quiza]

Yeah... but not so much!! Not in this case, A. moderatum no XD

I'm gonna think for the moment it is chalcodes... And what about the size? Plzzzzzz

Greetings.

[Stanley A. Schultz]

Looks to me could be an Aphonopelma moderatum, having said that many vary similarly and depending on lighting could alter colouration.

In a general way, you are quite correct about the effect that lighting can have. Good call.

In my example, however, A. moderatum has dark patellae, A. chalcodes' are not dark colored. I didn't point this out earlier because I didn't want to belabor the point too much.

Oh, and I forgot to mention... You can handle A. chalcodes with little effort. The first time or two that you pick them up they may object with raised fangs, but after that they settle right down to become tame pussycats. A. moderartum will fight and try to bite 7 times out of 8!

Now, you need to decide whether, in the name of science, you want to get bit or not!

[Stanley A. Schultz]

... And what about the size? ...

Average sized tarantulas. Aged females may have a body length of about 7.5+ cm and a leg span of about twice that.

[Dario Quiza]

In my example, however, A. moderatum has dark patellae, A. chalcodes' are not dark colored. I didn't point this out earlier because I didn't want to belabor the point too much.

Well explained, thx.

And the size, more or less what I knew. Thx again.

Greetings.