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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Josh's Frogs" data-source="post: 236817" data-attributes="member: 49228">There are two very popular species of Tarantulas, kept as pets, that are very easy to confuse. These are the Mexican Red Knee Tarantula and the Mexican Giant Orange Knee Tarantula. Brachypelma smithi was first described in 1897. However, in 1994, a man named A. M. Smith redescribed the species using two adult specimens that actually belonged to B. hamorii. B. hamorii was first described, years later, in 1997 by Marc Tesmoingt, Frédéric Cleton, and Jean Verdez. In 2017, J. Mendoza and O. Francke used DNA barcoding to clarify the distinction between the two species. They found that the two species have different DNA barcodes and can be distinguished by other morphological features.  Here are some of those visible morphological differences, to help us hobbyists tell the difference. On the left is Brachypelma hamorii.  On the right, Brachypelma smithi. In the first picture, you can see the front of the tarantulas showing the leg pattern differences. On B. hamorii, there is only red on the “knee segment” (patella). The rest of the segments are cream colored. On B smithi, the red/orange can be seen on each of the lighter colored bands. [ATTACH=full]75390[/ATTACH]The second picture shows the top (carapace) of the tarantulas. On B hamorii, the carapace is dark, with a red ring along the outermost edge. On B smithi we see that the majority of the carapace is red with a dark triangle over the eye mound. [ATTACH=full]75391[/ATTACH]The third picture shows the sides of the patellas of the number one (first towards the front) leg pairs. On B hamorii, the color is only on the top of the patella. It has black on the sides and bottom of that leg segment. On B smithi, the color is completely across the sides of their patellas, with no black visible from the side or above. Hopefully this can help you differentiate between these two awesome and popular Tarantulas![ATTACH=full]75392[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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