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Tarantula

Aphonopelma

Description:

freshly molted, see comments

2 Species ID Suggestions

Riften
Riften 10 years ago
Cobalt Blue Tarantula
Haplopelma lividum Cobalt blue tarantula
MartinL
MartinL 10 years ago
Purple Leg Tarantula
Pamphobeteus sp. Pamphobeteus


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19 Comments

KarenSaxton
KarenSaxton 10 years ago

Try one of the bug identification websites and see what they come up with

advan564
advan564 10 years ago

Hello, Martin linked to one of my Pamphobeteus pictures showing the male/female. I can assure you this is not Pamphobeteus. It is Aphonopelma species. It looks to be a freshly molted mature male. The location and shape of carapace is a dead giveaway. When they are freshly molted they will be slightly more colorful and the right angle of the sun/flash can exaggerate the colors. I hope you left him on his quest to find females! Cheers -Chad

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

I honestly don't know. I just accepted the new species suggestion since it didn't sound like it could be a cobalt blue tarantula. Although I looked up purple leg tarantula, and this tarantula doesn't seem to match the purple leg tarantulas description either.

Has a purple leg been spotted in Texas before? I could very well be looking in the wrong places, but this guy is a long way from home- most of the info I have looked up says he should be living in places like Peru and Ecuador. Quixotic, the park rangers where you spotted this would likely be very interested.

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

I got a species suggestion for purple leg tarantula. What do y'all think?

Atul
Atul 10 years ago

hi Nehemiah...i had thought about the possiblity of an escaped pet ...but as rightly mentioned by martin ...the old world Theraphosids do not have urticating hairs ...and this spotting clearly displays urticating hair ... so most probably making it a New world specie :)

MartinL
MartinL 10 years ago

I expect this is a new world (American) species and definately a male. The wiki link lists several possible species but I would not pretend to know more accurately. The larger female is brown as shown here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/76845739@N0...
The body and legs are very hairy. All Asian tarantulas are less hairy and do not have "urticating" hairs. Therefore I doubt that Haplopelma is our culprit. Its a spectacular sighting.

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

That is a possibility.

Could it be an escaped pet? How long could a Cobalt Blue survive in the wild in Texas?

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

Do you know what kind it is??

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

Alright. Thank you!

KarenSaxton
KarenSaxton 10 years ago

Very striking!

Atul
Atul 10 years ago

Then it cannot be a Cobalt Blue Tarantula ... as it is native to Myanmar and Thailand.

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

I saw it in Palo Duro Canyon.

Atul
Atul 10 years ago

is it a pet tarantula of did you spot it in the wild?

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 10 years ago

Beautiful Tarantula!

quixotic iconoclast
quixotic iconoclast 10 years ago

Thanks for identifying it for me!

Riften
Riften 10 years ago

These Cobalt Blue Tarantulas are very interesting! Glad you found one!

Caleb Steindel
Caleb Steindel 10 years ago

0_0 SPEECHLESS!

Canyon, Texas, USA

Spotted on Jul 12, 2013
Submitted on Jul 13, 2013

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