The Galleries → Introduction, Summary, etc.

Welcome to the DevinsCreatures blog. Below is an introduction to the galleries, the summary of the galleries and what their purpose is, as well as how to navigate and utilize this blog. There will also be links to educational posts that will be pinned at the top of this page.

Determining Sex of Theraphosidae with Exuviae – Updated 2026

The Inaccuracy of Common Names – Updated 2026

How to Ship Exuviae

The Documented List →  Spermathecae Gallery

Introduction 

Hey there! As a broad spectrum introduction, I would like to introduce myself before I introduce the concept of the galleries and the purpose of my project. My name is Devin Mitchell Anderson and I have an unyielding passion for creatures of all walks of life. I am a college student pursuing an education working in the field of biology, with focus on a career path in arachnology. I have not always been a spider person, but I have always had a passion for the many species of animals that we share this Earth with. All I have ever wanted to do was learn about animals. This fascination for the various walks of life that we share our natural world with started as a rather small scope of species but eventually grew with me as I got older. This is what led me down the path to discovering my own misunderstood fascination with arachnids. After I started keeping my first tarantula, a Tliltocatl albopilosus female named Merlin, my passion for these creatures quickly spiraled to become the passion projects I have created and currently manage. This encompasses my projects as a keeper and breeder as well as my gallery projects seen here on this site and my social media pages.

As an introduction to the gallery, I would like to add the information that I first began ‘investigating’ and playing around with exuviae and microscopes in late 2020 and have learned a LOT since then. I started out with a cheap microscope off of Amazon, which did help forge the path towards building the gallery. I very quickly outgrew that microscope and was, very generously, gifted a refurbished Accu-Scope 3002 Microscope Series at the end of 2022. After I acquired this microscope, the idea of the gallery truly began to manifest. I originally set out with the goal of photographing as many exuviae as possible as I grew my tarantula collection. During this time, I had also worked in the tarantula/invertebrate industry at an importer and so I had been exposed to MANY different species. After departing from that job, I solidified my goals of building the gallery and rooting myself in the tarantula community.

Through building relationships and collaborating with others, I was able to collect many exuviae from many different species. I plan to continue these galleries as long as possible and provide as many references as possible for common folk, spider folk, and whomever else may have use for these galleries.

The mission statement for the galleries and DevinsCreatures is as follows – "To provide a better understanding of animal sciences to the common folk and hobbyists."

Summaries

Spermathecae Gallery →  The purpose of this gallery is to map and document the female reproductive organs (spermathecae) of as many species as I can feasibly acquire exuviae from. I also plan to document the progression/development of these species as well and will accept exuviae from all sizes and maturity of specimens.

Male Accessory Organ Gallery →  This gallery focuses on photographing the male accessory organs of specimens or species that may possess them. It is absolutely important to document the male accessory organs of Theraphosidae because while not all species possess them, they can be incredibly misleading on the sex of a specimen when not directly compared to the corresponding spermathecae. I find that male accessory organs are incredibly under-represented. 

Ventral Gallery →  The most misunderstood way to determine the sex of Theraphosidae is ventral sexing. It takes a lot of practice, correct lighting and angles, and the correct size range of specimens. The goal of this gallery is to provide clear, proper examples of the ventral side of Theraphosidae specimens of both male and female sexes. I do try to keep up with this gallery, but it does take quite a bit longer to process and photograph specimens. It also takes quite a bit of time to get photographs of both sexes, so there may only be male or female examples available on a post without references of both sex.

Navigating This Blog

The Search Bar → Located at the top righthand corner of the page, indicated by a yellow-orange magnifying glass.

Tags → Located in the sidebar to the far left under the short DevinsCreatures bio. Tarantula content is listed under the ‘Tarantula Content’ tab.

How to use the blog →  The best way to utilize this blog and the various references and educational posts is to use them as needed. What does this mean? If you see a species listed that you keep, feel free to utilize the galleries to help you learn about the species you keep. Otherwise, feel free to jump around! There is no order in which anything needs to be viewed, though I would recommend reading any text posts listed at the top of this page.