Sexing Different Species of Scorpions

[Eurypterid]

Note from Kugellager: This thread will be strictly moderated and anything not pertaining directly to Sexing a Scorpion will be deleted.
Thanks,John
Arachnoboards
];')


I was just thinking that it might be good to have a thread which addresses the different ways of sexing different groups of scorpions. Since sexing is a commonly raised question here, and since sexual dimorphism varies among different groups of scorpions, both in amount and type, it would be nice to have a single resource to refer people to so that they could easily see (in those species where it is easy to see) the differences. People who have pics of both male and female of genera or species, showing how to tell the difference, could post them, possibly along with a short description of what to look for, and a title listing the species or genus. It might even be nice to make it a sticky, or include it in one of the other stickies on scorp info.

I'll start, with one of the easier groups, Centruroides. Generally, species in this genus show a marked difference between males and females, at least at maturity, with males having a thinner, slighter build, and especially a difference in the last couple of metasomal (tail) segments. In mature males, the metasomal segments are noticeably longer and thinner than in females and juveniles of either sex. Below are pictures of male and female Centruroides gracilis for comparison:

Male

Female

While the difference isn't always quite so extreme, this is generally the pattern in Centruroides species, and is the easiest way to sex them.

 

[Nikos]

euscorpius italicus
notice the difference in the "venom glad"

female

male

 

[Eurypterid]

Parabuthus

In the genus Parabuthus, the manus of the chela (the "hand" part of the pincer) is sexually dimorphic. In females it is thin, about the same thickness as the rest of the segments in the pedipalp, whereas in males it is bulbous and much thicker than the rest of the pedipalp segments. The pictures below show this difference in Parabuthus transvaalicus:

Female

Male

 

[Nazgul]

Hi,

Uroplectes planimanus

1.) male

2.) female , showing the enlarged sickle-shaped tooth at the base of the pectines

The pics aren´t very sharp cause I had to take them through the plastic bags I fixed the scorpions in.

Regards
Alex

 

[G. Carnell]

Here is the way to sex the genera Pandinus and Heterometrus
and lots of others..

the specimens in the photo are Heterometrus laoticus
a male and a female

you sex them by looking at their Pectines, the "feathery" things on the underside of the body. The males have longer "teeth" on the pectines, and their angles are more horizontal.
also the pectines themselves are thicker (the "wings")

these pictures illustrate what you should see in either Male or Female Pandinus or Heterometrus species.

EDIT: also, the male is supposed to have more teeth!

EDIT 2: see the shape of the Genital operculum, the males points towards the front of the scorpion, and the females points towards the rear
(only works in Heterometrus, and differs in different species)

 

[Nikos]

Lychas mucronatus

Lychas mucronatus males have a "curved" palp while females don't.

 

[Nazgul]

Hi,

chelae of male and female Hottentotta j. jayakari. It´s the same in the other ssp, H. jayakari salei.

Regards
Alex

 

[G. Carnell]

Here is a pic of a Liocheles waigiensis male, from Australia
the males have a Notch on the claw, though the position and size of the notch can vary, they always have one (i believe)
(im not sure if this applies to other Liocheles species!)

 

[G. Carnell]

Hi
here is the sexual dimorphism within Tityus paraensis
the male is a wild caught adult
and the female is a captive bred adult

As shown, the male has VERY elongated claws, whereas the female has relatively normal sized claws
(subadult males also have the elongated claws)

 

[G. Carnell]

Here is the sexual dimorphism of Babycurus jacksoni
the female has small claws, whereas the male has very bulbous claws
(he is lighter as he moulted 1 week previous to the picture)

http://www.scorpion-realm.co.uk/photos/babydimorph.jpg

EDIT: cant be bothered to resize it at the moment so ill leave it as a link

 

[Prymal]

Anuroctonus spp.

Males have the following modification to the telson:

The telson is composed of a primary bulb, a distinct constriction and then a smaller secondary bulb and the aculeus. Females lack this modification to the telson.

Cheloctonus jonesii:

Males possess a large, well defined chelal tooth on the moveable fingers of the chelae and larger, more bulbous telsons than females.

Diplocentrus spp. (U.S.A.):

Males possess large, robust, powerfully-built chelae with well defined and distinct, dark-colored chelal keels and are smaller and less robust than females.
In some small adult males of both, D. peloncillensis and D. spitzeri, the chelae appear grossly disproportionate to the overall size of the scorpion.

Luc

 

[kahoy]

I've got a lot of males and females here!!!

if any one owns them, could he/she get some alive n' kickin' pics???

Photogallery of species described by Kovařík in 2003 and 2004

some of the specimens might be dead for a long time, thus giving false coloration

(ex. 2 days dead isometrus maculatus will be REDDISH in color)

 

[G. Carnell]

Bump


just bumping so that hopefully we can have some new species pics added!!!!

 

[sweetmisery]

Very good info thread. Thanks!

 

[ScorpDude]

Anybody know the differences to look for scorpio maurus? (palmatus if that helps)

 

[kahoy]

time to raise this from the grave.

just want to add my 1st and favorite scorp

Isometrus maculatus
CB from Philippines

adult male

adult female

 

[Brian S]

Rhopalurus junceus males are thinner than females with more bulbous chela. When adult the males chela looks like this. It will not close all the way since it is slightly curved. It is most likely built this way in order to court the females


Females like most species are much more robust than males. Although they have somewhat bulbous chela, it is not as pronounced as the males and they can close the claws all the way.

 

[ACC]

Anybody know the differences to look for dune scorpion? thanks

 

[Ryan C.]

I'm pretty sure I read that Smeringurus mesaensis males have a more elongated 5th metasomal segment, I'm not positive though.

 

[Nazgul]

Rhopalurus junceus males are thinner than females with more bulbous chela. ...

Me too

1.) male

2.) female