# P. Metallica, is it Male or female?



## kevhutch

here is a couple of photos of my Gooty:flrt:

What do you all think? Male or female


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## kevhutch

and the under side


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## selina20

Best bet is to wait until it moults or pm Dan the ventral piccies as he is good at ventral sexing although it is never 100%


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## kevhutch

fingers crossed he looks at these on here:2thumb:


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## RAZZ-MCFC

looks female to me

not very sure though, best waiting until a moult


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## Danhalen

You have a 100% male there. Look after him well as he's going to have his work cut out for him in the future


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## kevhutch

Danhalen said:


> You have a 100% male there. Look after him well as he's going to have his work cut out for him in the future


 
thank dan

best get his stamina levels up, going to argos to buy him a running machine:lol2:

fingers crossed for females when he is in his prime

cheers Kev


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## GRB

Danhalen said:


> You have a 100% male there. Look after him well as he's going to have his work cut out for him in the future


Bah, I can never seem to get this ventral sexing thing right. Tarantulas are so confusing compared to other arachnids!


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## Danhalen

GRB said:


> Bah, I can never seem to get this ventral sexing thing right. Tarantulas are so confusing compared to other arachnids!


It's pretty easy with certain spiders - metallica being one of them. There are three things to look out for in this case:

The positioning and shape of the epigynal plate. In male metallica you'll find that the plate is much more trapezoidal in shape, opposed to the more triangular shape of a female. 

The booklungs and epigynal plate will be positioned much closer to the sternum in female specimens. In this case you can see that there is a large triangular region separating the sternum from the epigynal plate.

And finally, the epigynal plate is covered in epiandrous fusillae, apart from a "bald spot" in the lower center of the plate. This only ever occurs in male metallicas.


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## GRB

Cheers Dan, makes more sense now although I'll need to keep practising I think. : victory:


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## trivallica

I thought male as well actually. But my felmale looks about the same size as your male

could always do a 50/50 when they are mature??

Jason : victory:
x


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## kevhutch

i will be up for 50/50

will let people know on here when he matures: victory:

thanks all
kev


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