Tarantulas of the World

Breeding report: Neoholothele incei

Olive Mature Female with Olive Mature Male

Begin with female well fed in a somewhat moist but not saturated enclosure, introduce male. If receptive, female will tap back to the male. If there is no tapping from the female, it’s best to try another day.

After witnessing a successful insertion from the male, immediately rehouse the female into a fresh enclosure with saturated substrate (so wet you could squeeze water out of it). Feed female heavily until she webs herself into her chamber.

Incubation times (temps at a constant 83 F)

0-12 days- eggs

12-13 days- EWLs

14-23 days- 1i

23-30 days- 2i

Color forms:

Neoholothele incei has two color forms. The first is the “olive” or wild type, the second being “gold.” Unlike other theraphosid species with recognized colorforms, the color forms of N. incei aren’t locale specific but rather genetic mutations. It is uncertain what type of mutation the gold colorform is, however data is suggesting it is a simple recessive trait. Over the last 6 months I have bred Neoholothele incei extensively, using every combination of colors to prove the gold color form is genetic; here are some of my findings;

To start, I paired each olive female to a gold color form male. This allowed me to determine whether or not said female was heterozygous (het) for the gold gene. We can use punnet squares to predict the outcome of the eggsac, however to do so the genes of the pair must be known, hence my initial pairings. Out of 7 olive females initially bred to gold males, only 1 female of the group produced approximately 50% gold offspring in the sac, with the other 50% being olive. So, that one female was noted to be het for gold while the other 6 were noted as homozygous olive.  (note: a female noted het for gold is still olive colorform, as a gold specimen is inherently homozygous).

As predicted, a gold female mated to a gold male yielded 100% gold slings, and a homozygous olive female mated to a homozygous olive male yielded 100% olive slings. When a heterozygous female was mated to a heterozygous male, the sac was approximately 60% with the rest being olive.

*Note: the colors of offspring within a sac can deviate from the predicted percentages significantly since theraphosids reproduce in rather high numbers compared to other animals.

Homozygous olive female (gg) mated to homozygous gold male (GG), produce offspring heterozygous for gold (gG)

Heterozygous for gold female (gG) Mated to homozygous gold male produce offspring with approzimately half being homozygous gold, and half being heterozygous for gold

A homozygous gold female mated to a homozygous gold male will produce all homozygous gold offspring

A het for gold female mated to a het for gold male yields the most complicated mixture of offspring:

Approximately 25% gold slings, 25% homozygous olive slings, and 50% heterozygous for gold slings. Since the genes of an olive specimen cannot be determined based on phenotype, olive slings from these pairings are typically labeled 66% possible het, as there is a 66% chance that thany one olive sling from this sac is het for gold.

Article by Jonah Lazich

Photos by Jonah Lazich/Bellinghamarachnids

The following lecture is based on a talk Andrew Smith delivered at the BTS (British Tarantula Society)about Brachypelma.

It revolved around his field trip to the Pacific coast of Mexico and the Sierra Madre Mountains in search of the wonderful red leg tarantulas of the genus Brachypelma. This is a very interesting video that is must watch

Pictured is Andrew Smith on a mature female tarantula

From wikipedia:

Brachypelma is a genus of the family Theraphosidae containing several species of tarantulas.

The species are native to Mexico and neighboring countries of Central America. Habitat destruction and pet-trade collection have led these spiders to be among the few arthropods protected under the international Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species rules. They are docile tarantulas which are easy to keep in a terrarium. The most famous species in this genus are the Mexican redknee tarantula B. hamorii (formerly B. smithi), curlyhair B. albopilosum, and the Mexican redrump B. vagans. They feed on smaller invertebrates and occasionally vertebrates, but while insects are the norm, they may also eat lizards or frogs. These species, like most tarantulas, are cannibalistic, so in captivity, individuals must be kept singly, though brief captive introductions of a mate for breeding purposes can prove unproblematic, so long as they are separated once mating has occurred.