Chilobrachys jingzhao

[Robert Martin]

Hi people,

It's been absolutely ages since i last posted...how have you all been??

Anyway,this species,Chilobrachys. I have never heard of it and i've found some Chilobrachys jingzhao for sale. All i can find out about them is that they're one of China's most venomous spiders and they're using their venom in medical research. I can't even find a picture of one.

Does anyone know anything about them or know any good sites i can read up about them or has anyone kept them and can give me some info??

Thanks for your time.

Rob.

[James Box]

perhaps you mean most venomous Theraphosid...i seriously doubt it's one of China's most venomous spiders...they have a Macrothele species there (or more then one) that i would imagine is worse, if anything like its Japanese equivalent, M gigas.

Chilobrachys are a wonderful and underrated genus of Asian spiders. from everything i have read so far, they are amazingly easy to look after, tolerating a wide range of conditions.

in fact, i would recommend checking on the T-Store forum (it is linked to from this site). there are several threads on the genus, and a few people who are very knowledgeable, like Soren Rafn and Volker von Worth.

my own limited experience says they are easy to look after. they are fast but if left alone tend to run down their burrow at the first disturbance rather than turn and fight.
i have been one over by them, definitely.
none of mine are full grown, so i hesitate to say they won't one day become more confident in mounting a defense, but so far they are great, and have won me over to the entire genus.
this one you mention is not one with which i am familiar...but it'd be just as welcome in my collection as any other members of the genus

[James Box]

whoops, take that back:

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18812993

if that's anything to be trusted, it says Southern China, and maybe there are a shortage of highly venomous spiders there.

also, from a search for that spider, i found your thread on arachnoboards.
it appears this is synonymous with C guanxiensis (or guanxi, evidently, unless there is a distinction here that i've missed?)

i bought a spider at BTS from an Invicta member that MIGHT be this species.

am i worried about venom? nah...i've no desire to test it, and will do my utmost to avoid that, by not antagonising the poor creature and keeping its lid securely fastened!

[Stewart Shaw]

In synonymy:
C. jingzhao Zhu, Song & Li, 2001 = C. guangxiensis (Yin & Tan, 2000) (Zhu & Zhang, 2008: 432).