identification help please

[Alexander Ramsey]

So my auratum and boehemi both cast off yesterday and neither hooked out and both are a good size so I thought I'd look for a male of each. A shop near me is advertising a sub adult "fire leg" so I make a call and the chap tells me thats what he got it as but its definately not a boehemi.
I go for a look anyway and do a deal that sees me bringing home a peru blonde and a featherleg baboon and this mystery fire leg.

Any help with ID or finding the males I require is much appreciated.

[craig mcinnes]

Looks like one of the Aphonopelma sp. Guatemala thingies to me.

[Jonny Marques]

No it's not a Guatemala to me ... it looks Aphonopelma Chalcodes to me and im 90% sure about it

[craig mcinnes]

All the spiders labeled as chalcodes that i have seen either look like this one with the dark femurs


or this one


The spider the OP has put up pictures of looks like neither of these but does look like a premoult version of the spider that is commonly sold in the hobby as Aphonopelma seemanni (a lot of people seem to think that if a spider has tan spinnerets then it must be a seemanni). Eddy wrote a nice article in the ATS magazine about these not long ago and iirc the difference between seemanni and the sp. Guatemala is the diagonal line on the metatarsus (sp. Guatemala has them and seemanni doesn't) which can clearly be seen in the photographs. Perhaps Eddy or Stuart Longhorn may chime in and give more info.

[Alexander Ramsey]

A few more pics to help? The leg markings seem very similar to those posted but the overall colour seems quite a bit more orange and unified rather than the black abdomen covered by orange hair in the pic? Having said that, I'm not that fantastic with the camera lol and I appreciate the colours can change considerably pre and post molt.

[Jonny Marques]

anyway i never buy anything that i don't know what species they are ... i found a bit risky and always strugglin to find the best enviroment ... and i dont want to touch on the breeding part .... those petshops should be aware of what they are doing ... kind of amateur.
I don't want to be rude, only just post my thoughts

[Alexander Ramsey]

Yeah i know what you mean Jonny, its surprising how amateur the "professionals" can be but I like the challenge of the unknown lol it makes the spider more interesting.

[Jonny Marques]

How much did you pay for that specie Alex if you don't mind me to ask?

[Eric Reynolds]

Aphonopelma sp. "Guatemala" for me.

No it's not a Guatemala to me ... it looks Aphonopelma Chalcodes to me and im 90% sure about it

It's no A. chalcodes... from a picture alone I'm certain of that... A. chalcodes belongs to a different genus altogether.

Eric

[darrell hetzel]

i am by no means an expert on Aphonopelmas, but i would say a pre moult sp. "guatemala". i have a friend who breeds A. chalcodes, and i would say it is not one of them.

[James Box]

i'll agree with Craig and Eric, that's no chalcodes...
pretty cool to learn that bit about the metatarsal markings, as i'd not read that article. i've had a few A. sp Guatemala, and they all looked different from that lol
but then there are probably at least a couple species of that as well, if my guess isn't wrong.

[wayne balcombe]

i've had a few A. sp Guatemala, and they all looked different from that lol
but then there are probably at least a couple species of that as well, if my guess isn't wrong.

I agree, James helped me identify my Aphonopelma sp "guatamala" a while back and mine looks different to that too though i have seen other specimines in other peoples collections that look different again.

Identification of this genus is difficult at the moment as i understand it due to there being so many undescribed or more apptly unidentified specimines entering the hobby.

I think the best you can do is a confirmed Genus name - Aphonopelma and see how it looks over the next few moults.

[Alexander Ramsey]

Thank you all for your help, I'll post more pics up when it molts.

[stuart longhorn]

Would be nice to see after it moults. Curious how grey it gets... or blue.

Yes it is definitely a central american Aphonopelma, and very likely one of the guatmalan exports. It is not a US species, and definitely NOT A.chalcodes. Sorry, but no.

Cmon, i mean, it has tan spinnerets doesnt it?
Aphonopelma sp. 'guatemala' is the closest you will get to an Id for now, so nice photo-identification work there everyone.

s