Pterinopelma sazimai

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Pterinopelma sazimai
Pterinopelma sazimai, female

Pterinopelma sazimai , female

Systematics
Order : Spiders (Araneae)
Subordination : Tarantulas (Mygalomorphae)
Family : Tarantulas (Theraphosidae)
Subfamily : Theraphosinae
Genre : Pterinopelma
Type : Pterinopelma sazimai
Scientific name
Pterinopelma sazimai
Bertani , Nagahama & Fukushima , 2011

Pterinopelma sazimai is a spider from the tarantula family(Theraphosidae). The English-language names of the Brazilian species are "Brazilian Blue (Tarantula)", "Iridescent Blue (Tarantula)". or "Sazima's Tarantula". Pterinopelma sazimai was named after the Brazilian zoologist Dr. Named Ivan Sazima .

features

Pterinopelma sazimai reaches a body length of 50 to 60 millimeters and a leg span of 140 to 160 millimeters. It is one of the medium-sized tarantulas. The species has stinging hairs and is therefore counted among the tarantulas that can be bombarded. As with many spiders, including tarantulas, there is also a clear dimorphism in Pterinopelma sazimai .

female

A fully grown female of Pterinopelma sazimai has a black basic color, but appears mostly metallic blue due to iridescence (light penetration ).

The holotype is described as follows: The carapace (back shield of the prosoma or front body) has a length of 22.18 and a width of 19.71 millimeters and is provided with an area of ​​short and slender setae (hairs) from which individual stick out longer setae. The head area on the carapace appears raised and the stripes appear deep. The fovea (folding in of the cuticle or exoskeleton) is deep and straight and 2.74 millimeters wide. The mounds of the eye, including the eyes, located on the carapace and typical of tarantulas has the following dimensions in millimeters: 1.09 × 2.21 × 3.07, of which the clypeus (narrow section between the front pair of eyes and the edge of the carapace) is 0.55 occupies. The eight eyes are divided into two rows, the front of which is more curved than the rear.

The pedipalps (transformed extremities in the head area in arachnids) of the female are provided with spines. The maxillae of the female on it have a length to a width of 1.59 millimeters and on the underside about 100 to 200 small bumps, a lyre-shaped organ (sensory organ in spiders) is missing. The labium has a length of 2.74 and a width of 3.35 millimeters. It is provided with 155 small bumps, which are spaced from each other in the anterior third center by less than a diameter. The furrow between the labium and sternum (ventral shield of the prosoma) is deep and shallow and without any recognizable sigils. The female of Pterinopelma sazimai has two spermatheks (female sexual organs), which are separated from each other by a severely sclerotized (hardened) short area. The chelicerae (jaw claws) reach a length of 9.39 millimeters in the female. They lack a rastellum and the basal segments are provided with 11 and 10 teeth on the edge of the two chelicerae. For this purpose, there are denticles (tooth-like structures) on the base surface . The sternum is 10.53 millimeters long and 6.87 millimeters wide and rounded at the back, which means that the coxae (hip joints) of the fourth pair of legs and the sternum appear clearly fused, unlike the other pairs of legs. The sternum has three pairs of sigils, all of which are rounded in shape and located less than a millimeter from the edge of the sternum.

The coxae themselves are provided with several soft setae. The legs are provided with black short and long gold setai. The femura (thighs), the tibia (leg braces) and the patella located in between (a limb and the pedipalps in the case of jaw-claw carriers) are provided with pale rings on the upper side and the patella also has several inconspicuous stripes. The tarsi (limbs) of all pairs of legs are all provided with a scopula (thick hair), whereas that of the fourth pair differs from that of the metatarsus there, which takes up a fifth of its surface. divided by a number of setae. In contrast, the metatarsi of pairs of legs one and two are completely covered with a scopula. Another scopula covers about a third of the distal side of the metatarsus of the third pair of legs. Parts of the legs are spiked.

The opisthosoma (abdomen) of the female holotype has a length of 23.10 and a width of 19.71 millimeters. The red setae on the abdomen, which stand out clearly here, are striking. The spinnerets each have a length of 2.12, a width of 1.09 and a distance to the other wart of 1.20 millimeters.

male

The male resembles the female of the species, but differs from this in particular by the less strongly built body and by the less pronounced iridescence, which also occurs in young animals, although these can rarely have the same color intensity as the female due to the iridescence.

In the male holotype, the carapace is 16.46 millimeters long and 16.03 millimeters wide and is largely similar in structure to that of the female, but its fovea is 3.21 millimeters wide. The mound is 0.77 millimeters high, 2.17 millimeters wide and 2.68 millimeters high. The clypeus here has an occupying size of 0.64 millimeters. The bulbi (male genital organs) on the pedipalps are pear-shaped in Pterinopelma sazimai , the embolus is long and narrow and slightly flattened on the sides in the distal area (away from the center of the body). Here there are additional keels placed prolaterally (forward facing), these keels forming the edge of the embolus distally. The dimensions of the male's maxilla range from length to width of 1.92 millimeters and the labium has a length of 2.33 and a width of 2.54 millimeters and about 90 cusps. The chelicerae of the male are predominantly similar to those of the female, but they have a length of 7.14 millimeters and the number of teeth is 11. The sternum is 7.51 in length and 6.25 in width.

In the male, only the metatarsi of the third pair of legs have a scopula, which here covers about half the area. The male's extremities are also provided with spines, the division of which, however, differs from that of the female. The tibia of the first pair of legs in the male have an apophysis (invaginations of the exoskeleton in the case of arthropods) with two straight branches each, which start from the common base and appear longest retrolaterally (on the side and pointing backwards). The metatarsi of the first pair of legs are strongly curved and, when folded, touch the apophysis of the tibia of the same pair of legs. In the male holotype, the opisthosoma is 15.37 millimeters long and 9.64 millimeters wide. The spinnerets are 2.04 millimeters long, 0.91 millimeters wide and are each 0.69 millimeters apart.

Similar species

Pterinopelma sazimai is similar to the closely related species Pterinopelma vitiosum . From this it differs u. A. especially because of the iridescence that is present in P. sazimai and the lack of it in P. vitiosum and the less pronounced keels of the bulbs, which the male of P. vitiosum lacks. Another difference is the nature of the stinging hairs in females and the sternum, which is longer than broad in animals of this sex, which is not the case in females of P. vitiosum .

Occurrence

Pterinopelma sazimai has so far been detected in eastern Brazil and there in the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia including the national park in the local mountain range Chapada Diamantina . The sites are high (900 meters above sea level), areas with little vegetation and rocky areas with extreme weather fluctuations, including the table mountains of the Chapada Diamantina. Pterinopelma sazimai shares its habitat with other tarantulas of the species Dolichothele rufoniger (Guadanucci 2007) and others of the genus Lasiodora .

Threat and protection

Like some tarantulas, Pterinopelma sazimai is often illegally exported from its habitat to other continents due to its popularity in terraristics (see chapter " Terraristics "), which threatens the populations of the species, not least because of its small habitat. The IUCN does not count the population of Pterinopelma sazimai .

Way of life

Pterinopelma sazimai is one of the ground-dwelling tarantulas and digs burrows. In these it also lurks for prey animals passing by. In their natural habitat, however, the spider often hides under stones instead, since in the mountainous habitat, due to the predominantly rocky soil, there is often no possibility of creating a living tube. When encountering a predator , the less aggressive species primarily tries to flee, but does not hesitate to bombard the enemy with stinging hair. Pterinopelma sazimai , unlike other tarantulas that occur in areas with seasonal climatic fluctuations, does not hibernate, but its activity depends on the time of year including the prevailing weather conditions. The activity of the species is highest in the rainy season from September to April, while the spider becomes significantly less active in the dry season between August and October. The warmest period in the range of the species is the time between the months of October and May, when the temperature can rise to 35 ° C. The coldest period is between July and September, when the temperature can drop to 10 ° C at night.

Reproduction

The reproductive behavior of Pterinopelma sazimai has so far been little researched and has mainly been observed in captivity (there especially in the field of terraristics). In the terrarium keeping, mating at the turn of the year (December or January) has proven itself. This is probably due to the fact that at this time the temperature and humidity are highest in their natural habitat and this enables a mating season (see chapter " Lifestyle "). Four weeks after mating, the female makes an egg cocoon that contains around 600 to 1000 eggs. The maximum lifespan of Pterinopelma sazimai is 20 years.

Terrariums

Due to its visual appearance, Pterinopelma sazimai, like many other tarantulas, is a popular pet in terrariums. In this area, keeping the species is also attractive because the spider is comparatively peaceful towards the owner. For a successful keeping, however, the seasonally fluctuating climate including temperature and humidity in the original range of the species should be simulated. From pterinopelma sazimai also bred from the captivity offered.

Systematics and research history

The first discovery of Pterinopelma sazmai got the Brazilian zoologist Dr. Ivan Sazima , who discovered the species in 1971 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais . Since then he has researched a specimen of Pterinopelma sazimai at the Instituto Butantan together with the arachnologist Sylvia Marlene Lucas, who also comes from Brazil . However, this died after about ten years within the research that had been ongoing until then, without Sazima and Lucas having completed the first description of the species, which was then achieved in 2011 by Rogério Bertani , Roberto Hiroaki Nagahama and Caroline Sayuri Fukushima . In addition, studies have shown that the genus Pterinopelma including P. sazimai and the two other species of the genus ( Pterinopelma felipeleitei and Pterinopelma vitiosum ) is monophyletic and closely related to the genera Lasiodora , Nhandu and Vitalius . With the species name, Dr. Sazima to be honored. Pterinopelma sazimai was also chosen by the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) as one of the 10 animals of 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Pterinopelma sazimai (Bertani, Nagahama & Fukushima, 2011) on the website of "Theraphosidae" (Dutch) , accessed on February 7, 2020
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Pterinopelma sazimai (Bertani, Nagahama & Fukushima, 2011) on the website of "spiders.hxnetz.de" , accessed on February 7, 2020
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g R. Bertani, RH Nagahama, CS Fukushima: Revalidation of Pterinopelma Pocock 1901 with description of a new species and the female of Pterinopelma vitiosum (Keyserling 1891) (Araneae: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae) , Zootaxa 2814, 2011, pp. 1-18 , accessed February 7, 2020
  4. ↑ Pterinopelma sazimai (Bertani, Nagahama & Fukushima, 2011) on the Tarantupedia website , accessed on February 7, 2020

literature

Web links

Commons : Pterinopelma sazimai  - collection of images, videos and audio files