Entymologists, help! (Spider ID)

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I found this critter on the porch near all of my brew equipment. I made an attempt to move him to a place where our dog wouldn't get near him, but he was quite nimble, and I wasn't sure of his jumping and/or biting capabilities. Unfortunately, I had to dispatch him instead. I did manage to get a picture before I disturbed him. Can anyone ID this spider for me?

4688-spider.JPG
 
I can't say that I am an expert on arachnids, but given your location, I would have to conclude that is a tarantula. I'm not sure of what sub-species it is though.
 
johnsma22 said:
I can't say that I am an expert on arachnids, but given your location, I would have to conclude that is a tarantula. I'm not sure of what sub-species it is though.

Thats what It looks like to me. It wont hurt ya.
 
The Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes) grows 2 to 3 inches long and is colored gray to dark brown. It is common to the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California.

A beautiful looking one too, as long as you don't put pressure on the body they make great pets.

Apparently the New Mexico state insect is the Tarantula Hunting Wasp.
 
He's dead now. If he didn't scare the hell out of me with his speed and reared up "I'm about to bite you" posture, I'd have spared him. If I had a terrarium, he'd be in it.
 
I've always liked spiders, it's good to see them killing mosquitos and flies. Both my parents are entomologists, so I grew up with em always around. I'm Polish too, my grandparents passed down an old superstition that it's bad luck to kill a spider in your house.

However, my wife has the same reaction as you and kills them when I'm not looking.
 
Vermicous said:
However, my wife has the same reaction as you and kills them when I'm not looking.
I tried so hard not to have "that" reaction. I really did make an effort just to move him away from where the dog would get to him. Unfortunately, my gadgets are built for beer brewing and automotive tinkering. They don't work well at spider moving. Now I feel bad.
 
I used to feel bad about killing them and would move them to the bottom of the garden but I cannot take the risk. Had to kill about 50 once!
Just brought baby (first one) home from hospital, it was winter and had the wood heater going. There was always a couple of logs sitting beside the fire ready to go. There must have been a nest in one of the logs, wife screamed and when I looked up to see what she was pointing at there were little huntsman running around. Each about 1 inch in length. Vacumn cleaner came out... Then all I had to do was find the mother (about 4" across) She was still in the log so it was chucked outside. Not a good evening in the spider world!
 
I found one of those in the Mojave once. Got a real cool picture of that "rearing up" thing they do, but I had to get like 4 inches away from him. I learned later that they can jump pretty far, and if they do bite(rare) it's like a bee sting.
Cool spider though, use the pic for your next label....
 
Definitely a tarantula. Got em all over the place in my yard in the summer. They're not poisionous to humans but their bite DOES hurt though you got to be f'ing with them pretty good to get bit. They do like beer though:

574-SpiderBeer.JPG


Also good to have cuz they kill scopions.
 
Vermicous said:
Apparently the New Mexico state insect is the Tarantula Hunting Wasp.

Of which I heard has the most painful bite (edit sting) of all bugs. probably BS but they are evil looking things.

Pepsis%20over%20Camp%206%2006%20bg.jpg
 
Vermicous said:
The Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes) grows 2 to 3 inches long and is colored gray to dark brown. It is common to the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California.

A beautiful looking one too, as long as you don't put pressure on the body they make great pets.

.

you should see it during monsoon season here. Once it starts raining, these little f'ers are everywhere. My son like to keep one for a pet for a month or two.
 
Actually, the brown recluse spiders that are everywhere around these parts (Kansas) are scarier, IMHO, because they're small and unremarkable and just look like any old spider. Tarantulas, in spite of being relatively harmless, are big and hairy and scary looking. You're not going to come in contact with on accidentally and God knows most people aren't going to on purpose, either.

Also, a brown recluse bite wound is just about the nastiest thing imaginable.
 
That's a big assed spider right there. We rarely have anything that big here. What I do have are those f'ing camel crickets all over my basement. Those things suck. They're like little spiders that jump. I don't know if they bite, but I do know that they startle the hell out of me. I get much pleasure out of killing them, especially the big huge daddy crickets.
 
cweston said:
Actually, the brown recluse spiders that are everywhere around these parts (Kansas) are scarier, IMHO, because they're small and unremarkable and just look like any old spider. Tarantulas, in spite of being relatively harmless, are big and hairy and scary looking. You're not going to come in contact with on accidentally and God knows most people aren't going to on purpose, either.

Also, a brown recluse bite wound is just about the nastiest thing imaginable.

Yeah, a coworker of mine got bit in the ass by one when he lived in texas. 10 g's later, he got out of the hospital. Nasty bastards.
 
Evan! said:
Yeah, a coworker of mine got bit in the ass by one when he lived in texas. 10 g's later, he got out of the hospital. Nasty bastards.


Mmmm Necro-toxin....

I kinda wish we had cooler spiders up here, then I think about the brown recluse and I'm happy we don't! Cool spider pic, Yuri!

Remember this thread? Mine's bigger!
:tank:
 
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