Is this poecilotheria a rufilata?

[Thomas Jessen]

Hi

I bought 5 poecilotheria rufilata a year ago as slings. But 1 of them strikes me as not being a rufilata because of strange colours on the legs. The T in question is approx 10cm in legspan.(3.9inch)

Here you can see the T´s ventrally;

http://www.froschlurche.de/Poecilotheria-ventral.jpg

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/26/1884095/Poke%20ID.pdf

And here is some pictures of my rufilata;





Maybe not the best pics, but he/she was hard to work with today. But the blue is very clear blue when you give it lights. But leg III and IV are blue on femur and patella, and as you can see on the 2 links, they are not supposed to be blue there, only on legs I femur, and a little on the pedipalps.

Anyone who can help me ID this poecilotheria correctly?
I cant see where it belongs, looks like a crossbreed with p metallica, but i that is probably not true, becuase beside this oddity, it looks rufilata all the way.

[Peter Kirk]

Hi ThomAs,

From your pictures, it does look like rufilata - but if you can provide better photos (for example in a clear box rather than one that is semi-opaque) we stand a much better chance of doing so.

[Thomas Jessen]

I will try and clean a enclosure i have as reserve, it might provide better pictures
I knew they were not so good, and that is why i tried to explain where it is blue, but english is not my native language;(

[Thomas Jessen]

I dont think my camera can do better than this;

[Nicola Dolby]

Is that a trick of the light Thomas or is your spider blue?

[Thomas Jessen]

Is that a trick of the light Thomas or is your spider blue?

No tricks here. I dont fool arund with these things as i breed them amongst others
They are clear blue as in the picture here, but they are not supposed to be blue on leg III and VI.

[Nicola Dolby]

Then I'd say you have a P. metallica, the leg patterning is right as well as the colour. If you can do a close up of the epigastric furrow I'll have a go at sexing it too (though from this distance I'd say female).

[Peter Lacey]

tee-hee
That's exactly where the blue is supposed to be. You have P. rufilata

Its worth noting P. metallica don't have the 2nd band of yellow on the femur

Here's one of mine:

[Peter Kirk]

Thomas; that's perfectly adequate.
Peter - spot on with that; definitely rufilata.
You'd be surprised how very iridescent the black bands can be on most of the Poecilotheria.
Nicola; definitely not metallica - for the reasons Peter gave above.

[Thomas Jessen]

Thanx guys, much appricate the feedback

It was this site that made me a little in doubt http://www.froschlurche.de/Poecilotheria-ventral.jpg and that my other rufilatas the same size dont have the blue on them.

[Nicola Dolby]

Sorry about the mistake! Its the colour that threw me, none of mine have had blue on them either. Sorry again.

[Thomas Jessen]

Sorry about the mistake! Its the colour that threw me, none of mine have had blue on them either. Sorry again.

No worries...Life would not be so exciting if we allways is right

[Noel Sargent]

I will try and clean a enclosure i have as reserve, it might provide better pictures
I knew they were not so good, and that is why i tried to explain where it is blue, but english is not my native language;(

Rufilata do have some amazing blues on the underside of the fibia

This is a side shot of one a my Adult Females you can clearly see the blue altho the pic is not great sorry!!

[Thomas Jessen]

Ok, good to know, i would hate to breed a hybrid, even if it was unintentional.