Recognising E.murinus

[Salatia]

Hi T people!
Hope all are doing well - I have some exuvia taking a bath ready to see if I can sex any of my guys. I imagine only 2 will be large enough but I also want to practice arranging etc.

My question today, though, is about a T I got which is supposed to be E murinus. They are a couple inches DLS, and I'm not sure what their colouration should be at this stage. I would compare to my A.seemani but they are considerably smaller and mostly unmarked at this stage. I believe seemani would have orange spinnerets, and most importantly that an E.murinus shouldn't have a bald spot on the back end. I want to confirm this before bringing it up with the seller. As far as I'm aware, if the T doesn't have urticating hairs on their abdomen, then there is no reason there will be a bald patch. Is this correct?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide. I'm feeling quite let down, and it is a T I've wanted since the very beginning. This is a pretty spider, but they are also the largest I own - so having more of the adult colouration then of course they're pretty. But the whole time I've been thinking things look 'off' and I have in the last few days finally had a chance to pin down why.

 

[Blackdog]

Hi T people!
Hope all are doing well - I have some exuvia taking a bath ready to see if I can sex any of my guys. I imagine only 2 will be large enough but I also want to practice arranging etc.

My question today, though, is about a T I got which is supposed to be E murinus. They are a couple inches DLS, and I'm not sure what their colouration should be at this stage. I would compare to my A.seemani but they are considerably smaller and mostly unmarked at this stage. I believe seemani would have orange spinnerets, and most importantly that an E.murinus shouldn't have a bald spot on the back end. I want to confirm this before bringing it up with the seller. As far as I'm aware, if the T doesn't have urticating hairs on their abdomen, then there is no reason there will be a bald patch. Is this correct?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide. I'm feeling quite let down, and it is a T I've wanted since the very beginning. This is a pretty spider, but they are also the largest I own - so having more of the adult colouration then of course they're pretty. But the whole time I've been thinking things look 'off' and I have in the last few days finally had a chance to pin down why.

Photos would help the experienced folks on here to help you

 

[plessey]

If it is E. murinus then it will have a patch of urticating hairs on the inside of the femur of the pedipalps. See fig 42 here - https://tarantulaforum.com/threads/...to-tarantula-anatomy-and-taxonomic-terms.389/

 

[Salatia]

Photos would help the experienced folks on here to help you

I'll add some shortly. I thought it may not be worth adding as it's commonly commented that IDing from online images is a bit of a fool's errand.

 

[Salatia]

If it is E. murinus then it will have a patch of urticating hairs on the inside of the femur of the pedipalps. See fig 42 here - https://tarantulaforum.com/threads/...to-tarantula-anatomy-and-taxonomic-terms.389/

Yes, what I was hoping to clarify is that E.murinus wouldn't have a bald spot on the abdomen, because there shouldn't be any hair removal from that spot. I'm finding getting a good view of the papal femur to be quite tricky - though all of the hairs on the underside look to be of the same type all over.

 

[Salatia]

I am almost sure this is A.seemani. Main thing is that it's not E murinus - and I'm not sure what the best approach is at this point re.the seller.

 

[Lemon]

E. Murnius have a white carapace and A. Seemani have a black carapace.

 

[Salatia]

E. Murnius have a white carapace and A. Seemani have a black carapace.

That's what I thought. But I wasn't sure if the cream colouration developed after a certain point, as I couldn't find images where I had a sense of age. So I didn't want to assume it was always cream only to find out later that it starts out otherwise
Thank you!

 

[Lemon]

That's what I thought. But I wasn't sure if the cream colouration developed after a certain point, as I couldn't find images where I had a sense of age. So I didn't want to assume it was always cream only to find out later that it starts out otherwise
Thank you!

Yeah no problem! E. Murinus also have a more brown abdomen then black, like the Seemanis, and as to how confronting the seller, I can't help too much there but I'd make sure to let them know at least!

 

[Salatia]

Yeah no problem! E. Murinus also have a more brown abdomen then black, like the Seemanis, and as to how confronting the seller, I can't help too much there but I'd make sure to let them know at least!

I've decided to message and ask if they have pics of their other E.murinus, if there are any others remaining. If there aren't any that look right I'll explain anyway, but I'm hoping they may have a couple that are actually the right tarantula...

I really should be better at checking, but I think I got comfortable with a seemingly knowledgeable seller, and so despite buying this guy elsewhere didn't really expect to have an issue. Which is probably foolish, as there are plenty of sellers who likely wouldn't know/notice the difference. Its easy to forget not everyone is crazy obsessive

 

[Lemon]

I've decided to message and ask if they have pics of their other E.murinus, if there are any others remaining. If there aren't any that look right I'll explain anyway, but I'm hoping they may have a couple that are actually the right tarantula...

I really should be better at checking, but I think I got comfortable with a seemingly knowledgeable seller, and so despite buying this guy elsewhere didn't really expect to have an issue. Which is probably foolish, as there are plenty of sellers who likely wouldn't know/notice the difference. Its easy to forget not everyone is crazy obsessive

Its alright! Moments like that help plus you now have a new pet rock you weren't expecting! XD Aphonopelma are really great

 

[Salatia]

Its alright! Moments like that help plus you now have a new pet rock you weren't expecting! XD Aphonopelma are really great

Ha I'm very fond of my seemani sling to be fair! Annoyingly I put them in peat, with a little sand, and it makes the burrows awfully hard to see. They've burrowed from one end of a small braplast to the other and various routes in between (the 'starter burrow' I created got incorporated somewhere in all of this but was ignored for a good while).

The newer guy hasn't done a great deal of digging yet, which is in stark contrast to the sling. I set them up late that night, went to check their water in the morning and they had none. They had a bowl of dirt. They were a little bigger than I'd expected (thus the lesson was learned to have a couple of housing options ready), and I'd put them in the sling tub with a view to moving them the next day when I could grab more substrate anyway, but that only further reinforced the decision! They've taken food, so that's good, and I'm pretty sure they've laid some fine tripwires, but I struggle with the period of 'settling in' as it is, because I don't like them seeming stressed.

And I don't believe yelling 'it's okay you're safe here I will feed you lots and you will be comfy and warm' is very reassuring to them ‍