- Known as Madrean Tarantula or Madera Canyon Tarantula, this New World terrestrial is from the USA - AZ (Madera Canyon, in Pima county); POSSIBLY northern Mexico. Known from the Huachuca, Pajarito, and Santa Rita Mountains in southeastern Arizona at elevations ranging from 1230 to 2110 meters. Thought to be the only species found at higher elevations within these mountain ranges but might be syntopic with A. chalcodes and A. vorhiesi at lower elevations.
- They were recently described in 2016!
- We've only have these for a few days so far, and the first thing I can say is that they don't seem to like damp substrate, as they're all climbing on the lids. However, since they are so small, we'll continue to err on the side of caution and keep the humidity up a bit.
- Per Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016, in the wild they are fossorial - The burrow entrance was located along the base of a slope and had a thin layer of silk along its edges; the burrow itself was fairly shallow and was sheltered by a large rock that was removed to reveal the spider inside its retreat. All immature specimens were located underneath large rocks with no obvious burrow entrances.
- The coloration, per the original paper: Carapace densely clothed with black/faded black pubescence, slightly appressed to surface and longer than lower elevation species; fringe covered in long setae not closely appressed to surface; normal sized chelicerae; sternum hirsute, clothed with short black, densely packed setae. Abdomen: Densely clothed in short black pubescence with numerous longer, lighter setae interspersed (generally red or orange in situ); dense dorsal patch of black Type I urticating bristles; ventral setae same as dorsal. Legs: Hirsute; densely clothed with short, similar length black setae, and longer setae interspersed. Metatarsus I very slightly curved. Pedipalps: Hirsute; densely clothed in the same setal color as the other legs, with numerous longer ventral setae.
- Adult size is reported to be about 3.5".
- uh-fone-uh-PEL-muh
- They were recently described in 2016!
- We've only have these for a few days so far, and the first thing I can say is that they don't seem to like damp substrate, as they're all climbing on the lids. However, since they are so small, we'll continue to err on the side of caution and keep the humidity up a bit.
- Per Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016, in the wild they are fossorial - The burrow entrance was located along the base of a slope and had a thin layer of silk along its edges; the burrow itself was fairly shallow and was sheltered by a large rock that was removed to reveal the spider inside its retreat. All immature specimens were located underneath large rocks with no obvious burrow entrances.
- The coloration, per the original paper: Carapace densely clothed with black/faded black pubescence, slightly appressed to surface and longer than lower elevation species; fringe covered in long setae not closely appressed to surface; normal sized chelicerae; sternum hirsute, clothed with short black, densely packed setae. Abdomen: Densely clothed in short black pubescence with numerous longer, lighter setae interspersed (generally red or orange in situ); dense dorsal patch of black Type I urticating bristles; ventral setae same as dorsal. Legs: Hirsute; densely clothed with short, similar length black setae, and longer setae interspersed. Metatarsus I very slightly curved. Pedipalps: Hirsute; densely clothed in the same setal color as the other legs, with numerous longer ventral setae.
- Adult size is reported to be about 3.5".
- uh-fone-uh-PEL-muh