Quick question :)

[khaostim666]

What dose "L" then a number mean? (Example : This spider is L6)

i see it all the time but have no idea what it means.

some one please explain

[spicewwfc]

Its a way of defining the age of an invert it tells you how many times it has shed its skin.

[khaostim666]

ahhhh thank you

[ph0bia]

In tarantulars, it's referred to as an instar.

If a tarantula has shed four times, it is in its' 4th instar.

[garlicpickle]

I guess with T's, the instars begin actually at the 3rd moult, because they have 2 nymph stages before moulting into spiderlings?

[Ozgi]

An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions or changes in the number of body segments. Some arthropods can continue to molt after sexual maturity, but these subsequent molts are generally not called instars.
For most insect species the term "instar" is used to denote the developmental stage of the larval or nymphal forms of holometabolous (complete metamorphism) or hemimetabolous (incomplete metamorphism) insects, but the term can be used to describe any developmental stage including pupa or imago (the adult, which does not molt in insects).

Thanks Wikipedia

Instar is the preferred term in this country, L tends to be frowned upon by the hardcore invert keepers, lol!

[ph0bia]

Originally Posted by garlicpickle

I guess with T's, the instars begin actually at the 3rd moult, because they have 2 nymph stages before moulting into spiderlings?

Embryo, postembryo, 1st instar.

The molt from postembryo I believe is classed as their first molt as the other two are not proper 'molts' so to speak... I'm not 100% sure if I'm honest, but I think that's right.

[Poxicator]

agreed with Ben, the 1st instar appears from postembryo. Can't remember what these are called - Eue/Euwe, something like that.

[ph0bia]

Originally Posted by Poxicator

agreed with Ben, the 1st instar appears from postembryo. Can't remember what these are called - Eue/Euwe, something like that.

It's so weird being referred to by my actual name... I kinda like it.

Euwe rings bells, but I can't find it. I have, however confirmed that until the chorion (the yolk etc attached to the embryo spiders) is cast off during eclosion. Because during these first 'molts' only the chorion is cast off and these are produced by the mother, not the spiderling itself, this eclosion (a word synonymous with hatching... sort of...) marks the beginning of the postembryo stage.

The postembryo is the first stage of spider development where the young is not attached to the chorion. When the postembryo now molts, this is indeed a molt, and the spider is now a "1st instar spiderling". So, to use everybody's favourite Brachypelma smithi, it is now referred to as a "L1 Brachypelma smithi (Pickard-Cambridge, 1987)" to use it's full scientific nomenclature