Brachypelma kahlenbergi

Brachypelma kahlenbergi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Chelicerata
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Infraorder:Mygalomorphae
Family:Theraphosidae
Genus:Brachypelma
Species: B. kahlenbergi
Binomial name
Brachypelma kahlenbergi
Rudloff, 2008[1]

Brachypelma kahlenbergi is a species of spider in the family Theraphosidae (tarantulas), found in Mexico.[1]

Description

Brachypelma kahlenbergi is a relatively small member of the genus Brachypelma. Three males had total body lengths of between 32 mm and 34 mm; the female is larger, one having a body length of 41 mm. The fourth leg is longest, up to 58 mm in males and about 49 mm in females. The body is generally dark with relatively dense covering of red hair on the abdomen and legs compared to the more sparse red hairs in B. schroederi, which this species resembles. The carapace is variable in colour, and can appear quite bright.[2]

Like B. schroederi, fewer larger eggs are produced than in most species of the genus, and the spiderlings are correspondingly larger.[2]

Taxonomy

Brachypelma kahlenbergi was first described in 2008 by Jan-Peter Rudloff. The specimens used in his description came from Herwig Kahlenberg, who was the first to recognize them as a new species. Spiders from Veracruz in Mexico had been sent to Kahlenberg in Germany, where he had distributed offspring. B. kahlenbergi is distinguished from all other species in the genus by the arrangement of the sigilla on the sternum, and by possessing two spines, rather than one, on the prolateral tibial apophysis.[2]

Distribution and habitat

Brachypelma kahlenbergi was described from specimens in captivity, reported to be collected from around Veracruz, Mexico. It lives in burrows in the ground, like other Brachypelma species.[2]

Conservation

All species of Brachypelma were placed on CITES Appendix II in 1994, thus restricting trade, although B. kahlenbergi had not been described then and is not explicitly listed.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Taxon details Brachypelma kahlenbergi Rudloff, 2008", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2017-10-01
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rudloff, J.-P. (2008), "Eine neue Brachypelma-Art aus Mexiko (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae)", Arthropoda (in German), 16 (2): 26–30
  3. ↑ "Brachypelma smithi (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897): Documents", Species+, UNEP-WCMC & CITES Secretariat, retrieved 2017-09-22
  • Hijmensen, Eddy (2011), "Brachypelma kahlenbergi", mantid.nl, retrieved 2017-10-05 – photographs taken in the wild
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