I think Blue is a she


Blue is the lab mascot, a Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, and after their last molt, they’ve acquired the dark blue and blue-green colors of a mature greenbottle blue tarantula, and maybe reached sexual maturity. I’ve been checking out those palps, and they look very feminine to me.

Let me know what you think.

Fortunately, Blue is a perfectly good name for a female. Or male. Or immature juvenile.

Comments

  1. Scott Simmons says

    I don’t know, but I hope you sort it out soon. I understand tarantulas get very upset if you misgender them.

  2. christoph says

    With spiders, you can usually tell by the body size. Girl spiders are bigger. : )
    (But you already knew that)

  3. rietpluim says

    I sometimes wonder if spiders find eachother attractive like humans do?

    Hey honey, where are those hairy legs goin’ 😘

  4. John Morales says

    “I’ve been checking out those palps”, quoth PZ.

    (I reckon he did not palpate them, but)

  5. says

    When I was teaching in Arizona, I had a student whose first name was Bleu. I mentioned to him once that it was probably my only chance to have a student named after stinky cheese. I don’t think he appreciated it.

  6. John Harshman says

    The palps clearly are not made for sperm transfer; not inflated even a little bit. So yeah: Blue is a lady.

  7. Silentbob says

    I’ve been checking out those palps

    Dude, we don’t want to hear about your Blue movies.

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