10/27/2021: First look at Fort Hancock Arenivaga

I decided to bite the bullet and stop teasing all of the trip Arenivaga by finally getting a picture of one!

In some ways this is one of the most and least exciting localities, most because I had very little time and found this solo female by complete chance, least because it’s possible this is just another locality of Arenivaga tonkawa which is already in culture. Whatever the case, I’m just happy that she’s done so well solo and has been producing oothecae!

There she is! Maybe due to age she has sand stuck to some parts of her body, though her overall conditions says she’s still in good shape. The coloration is more similar to the Monahans Arenivaga than to our current tonkawa line in my opinion, though captive Arenivaga seem to end up more orange than wild species perhaps due to diet or slightly imperfect condition sthat encourage Serratia infection of the cuticle. Between the approximate locale for the current hobby line of tonkawa and Fort Hancock is about 500 miles of extremely diverse terrain. I’ll hold my breath until adult males pop up, but it doesn’t seem unlikely they could be separate species, but are probably very genetically different even if they’re the same.

More pics of trip Arenivaga to come! I just thought I’d give a little look-see considering she’s very easy to find in her enclosure and with so many oothecae scattered around it’s a good insurance policy that even if I did stress her too much by pestering her, the colony still has an excellent chance of taking.

-Kyle