It never ceases to amaze me how things come together on this blog. No sooner had Jade forwarded me these photos, than Aubrey asks for some tarantula photos to undo the horror of the house centipede.
Well Aubrey, once again, Jade aims to please.
You'll recall a while back that I posted on his beloved Antillies Pink Toe tarantula. Here he is again, but this time with a perfect counter example of sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism? (be sure not to say that out loud) That's when one sex of a species has different physical characteristics from the other. Think of the male peacock's tail feathers as compared to the drab female.
That same difference appears between the sexes of this particular spider (Avicularia versicolor). The first image is that of Jade's male. Note the pretty sheen and colors. The second shot is of his recently-matured female. Note the lack of color. (I'm sure she makes up for the disparity with a sweet spirit.)
Thanks for sharing, Jade. Thanks Aubrey, for proving that the cosmos are aligning in favor of the un-cute critters of the world.
Jan 14, 2008
Dimorphism
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10 comments:
That is one snazzy bug...uh...tarantula! All the girls must love him!
bats- He had fifteen girlfriends before his time came. He was quite a stud! :)
The fun part about having females, now, is that I get to see lots of males when breeding season comes around!
Wow - I'm not even sure that the male qualifies at UglyO! :D So Jade, would you say that spiders have color vision then, since the sex. dimorphism is so colorful?
Some spiders can see color (jumping spiders come to mind first). Surprisingly, these don't, that I know of. They do have much better vision that most tarantulas, though.
I want to buy the spiders some gold to go with that beautiful fur. That's how we roll in Brooklyn, where I live now, and in the East Bay, where I'm from, fah cheezy. That shit is tight.
**sighs** much better.....
Maybe I should post a pic of my Pacman frog...she's 'ugly' in her own way.....
Thanks Jade!! And of course Wombat ;)
Aw... I actually think the female is adorable. She's all coppery.
I don't like spiders, but these are BEAUTIFUL!
I heart disco flashdance spider.
Is this an avicularia versicolor? I have one, but I can't remember if it's called the Antilles pink toe...
Also, there is another species of avicularia that's pink. It's delightful and I want one of those also!
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