#60 - THE BRITISH TARANTULA SOCIETY

I am the North American Coordinator of The British Tarantula Society, which is the world's oldest ongoing society devoted to tarantula spiders and other arachnids. My role is to increase membership in the United States, Canada and Mexico, promote the B.T.S. wherever possible and liaise with North American groups with similar goals such as the American Tarantula Society. I recently functioned in the latter role by discussing with Jen Newman the future plans of the ATS and how they are changing and rebuilding to keep the American organization moving forward.

I urge all of you to become members of the greatest English-language tarantula society and support the British Tarantula Society's efforts in education and conservation. The BTS Journal is the premier arachnocultural publication and a full membership entitles you to three issues of this fantastic Journal per membership year. Although the name states "British", the BTS is an international organization and welcomes arachnid enthusiasts from around the globe.

The BTS Membership year runs from June 1 until May 31. Those of you who are American members probably received your membership kits for the current year yesterday. Unfortunately, the release of Journal 30(2) was delayed a bit and the Journal and its accompanying kit were behind schedule. Included in the kit was a personalized membership card, a bookmark featuring the "Best in Show" from this past May's BTS Exhibition, a very nice sticker and a fun magnet set that allows you to creatively match words, scientific names, etc. on your fridge or other magnetic surface.

I am always perfectly frank about the cost of being an overseas BTS Member. Last time I checked with international postage for your three Journals, etc. it is about $55 in ugly green American dollars. I fully realize that this is cost prohibitive for some people. If you just look at it as $18 per Journal you may find the expense too much. However, if you look at it as also being part of the leading tarantula-oriented organization and contributing to our efforts both in education and conservation you will hopefully realize the investment is worthwhile. Personally, holding the beautiful full color Journal in your hands, which is packed with the writings of leading arachnoculturists and contains serious articles and even peer-reviewed species descriptions, is worth the cost alone for those who can afford it. If your budget is tighter you may become a digital only member and download the full color PDF instead at somewhere just above $22 or so for the year. I solicit your membership and hope that you'll join our group. Please visit http://www.thebts.co.uk/bts-memberships/ for more info and to sign up. If you have further questions about membership do not hesitate to contact Phil and/or Erin in our Membership Office at membership@thebts.co.uk.

BTS Journal Volume 30(2), which just arrived along with this year's membership kit, is extra special to me. I am one of the proofreaders for the Journal, but 30(2) also contains two articles written by your intrepid blogger. In fact, why I don't just list the table of contents so you can see the quality of articles our professionally printed full-color Journal contains. This isn't some amateurish xeroxed DIY assemblage of hobbyist notes and filler. This is a first-rate publication.

• Chilobrachys guangxiensis: A rediscovery by Hans Cools
• Some notes and observations on the breeding of Acanthoscurria sternalis by Ray Gabriel
• Notes on the first American breeding of Pachistopelma rufonigrum by Michael Jacobi
• Monocentropus lambertoni - A brief overview owith comments on habitat and questions on the validity of our hobby identification by Michael Jacobi
• Conservation of the critically endangered Desertas Wolf Spider by Mark Bushell
• Additional comments on specimens of the genus Hysterocrates by Daniella Sherwood
• The sexing of early instar tarantula moults by Emma Lambert
• Tarantulas of the World (Book Review) by Peter Kirk

This is a stellar line up of articles and is representative of the quality of information contained in our Journal. You won't find this anywhere else and membership will entitle you to a few previous back issues (online) as well. I am very pleased to have two important articles of my own in this recent issue, but I'd also like to point out one other. Mark Bushell's work with the Desertas Wolf Spider is partially funded with a £500 contribution by the British Tarantula Society. And getting back to my Pachistopelma rufonigrum article, I was pleased to ask my friends and fellow photogs Chad Campbell and Michael Pankratz to add some pix to my article and they added a great deal.

I know money is tight for many in the arachnoculture hobby, but if you can swing $22 or so please consider an "e-membership". But there is nothing like the glossy, color Journal in hand so if you can skip a trip to a restaurant or the movie theater this month please think about full membership. It's 20 quid, plus £15 more for international postage so thats £35 total - currently $55.21. We welcome members from around the world and would be glad to have you on board. I'm sure you'll agree that the Journal content alone makes it worthwhile, but you'll also be supporting our research grants and worldwide promotion of spider conservation and education.

If you have any questions about the BTS please don't hesitate to email me at spidershoppe@icloud.com.

All the best, MJ