# Scorpion found in Texas at deer camp



## kevin91172 (Nov 10, 2009)

Hey,
 Some one brought me a scorp they found at deer cam this weekend.Never seen one of these down by the coast 40 miles out of Houston.Please be kind on the bad pic.It was the best one of 8 I took.It was found in south west Texas.To me it looks like some type of Bark Scorpion.It is pretty docile but a little fast.What do ya'll think?


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## rasputin (Nov 10, 2009)

It's _Centruroides vittatus_, known also as the striped bark scorpion. They're all over the place in Texas.

I'm gonna say it's a female.


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## Redneck (Nov 10, 2009)

I would agree with rasputin about the C. vittatus... But it dont look female.. The tail looks like it might be longer... But a better picture would help..


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## rasputin (Nov 10, 2009)

rednecklivin said:


> I would agree with rasputin about the C. vittatus... But it dont look female.. The tail looks like it might be longer... But a better picture would help..


You could be right on that. it just blurry enough that it looks like it could be female but that 5th metasomal segment does make it look like it could possibly be male


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## Galapoheros (Nov 10, 2009)

My best guess is an immature male.  The chela are usually darker on immature vittatus and they look a little dark there in the pic, but there is some diff with the degree of darkness of the chela that depends on locality.  I've seen some adults with darker chela around here.  I found 4 yesterday while I was riding my mountain bike but didn't have anything to put them in.  There was only one I would've taken home though.  It was unusually large female and very healthy looking, it was pretty nice looking.


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## rasputin (Nov 10, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> My best guess is an immature...


At about 2", I'll give it that (size comparison of fingers under that cup)


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## Galapoheros (Nov 11, 2009)

Sure could be mature, I used the finger tip under the deli as a ref too, but the thumb looks very big being so much closer to the camera of course.  I feel the bark it's on is on the plastic but it's hard to tell and it's just a finger tip under there.  Fingertip pics and inverts, it can make them look bigger than they are.  I would really need to see a better depth perception pic to feel confident about much more, maybe he could put a ruler to it in another pic so we could tell more if he's interested.  If not, kind of a waste.


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## rasputin (Nov 11, 2009)

Yeah, I'm bored and this is the most interesting scorp post of the day so I'm intent on seeing more of this scorp to kill my boredom (temporarily). I guess I could just try for sleep but I could very well end up back here after 20min of laying in bed realizing I'm wide awake. Insomnia backed by a mind moving at the speed of light is painful.


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## Galapoheros (Nov 11, 2009)

I have a prob with that sometimes too.  I don't worry about anything, it's just that my brain is on, jumping around sometimes focusing real hard on one thing or else jumping around thinking about random things.  It wants to think of things but I want to sleep.  Anyway, I was looking at the chela again there in the pic and the last metasoma is a little darkish.  Man, don't know, female, male, immature... best that I should just leave it alone, I can't tell.  Some mature females can look like males to me at first glance, when the diff is very obvious with others specimens.


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## kevin91172 (Nov 11, 2009)

Wow A lot of good responses.What a great sight! I'll go home tonight and get a better pic and will have it next to a ruler.The 2 things underneath the scorp where you can sex them(can not spell or pronounce the name) are unusually huge to its guessing 2" overall length.


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## rasputin (Nov 11, 2009)

kevin91172 said:


> Wow A lot of good responses.What a great sight! I'll go home tonight and get a better pic and will have it next to a ruler.The 2 things underneath the scorp where you can sex them(can not spell or pronounce the name) are unusually huge to its guessing 2" overall length.


The best way to sex species in the genus _Centruroides_ is by the metasoma (tail) - males have a long slender metasoma and females a short fat metasoma. I don't bother with pectines (two things under the scorp) because it's a dead giveaway when you not the metasoma. So, was my guess on length close?

Note how the female has short fat metasomal segments and the male has long thin metasomal segments in the following pix from my last colonies.

Female:





Male:


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## kevin91172 (Nov 11, 2009)

Hey thanks,

Guess  what I am buying for Christmas??....Yep! what ya'll thought in the back of your minds.A new camera.Going to try to get my brothers camera to give a good pic..Did not realize I would get all these great help.Next time soon I'll be better prepared!!

Hey the one with the pics..Which are good!! mine looks like a female and 90% sure it is this same species


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## rasputin (Nov 11, 2009)

kevin91172 said:


> Hey the one with the pics..Which are good!! mine looks like a female and 90% sure it is this same species


I assure you that it's the same species, it's the only species documented in Texas that would look like that.


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## Animalia (Nov 11, 2009)

Agreed C.vit.
& to Rasputin, someone told me there were other species of barks in different regions is that true? not for sure but i think he said sculps maybe one of the weirder long latin names (sorry still kinda new to this speringuis or something like that)


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## rasputin (Nov 12, 2009)

Animalia said:


> Agreed C.vit.
> & to Rasputin, someone told me there were other species of barks in different regions is that true? not for sure but i think he said sculps maybe one of the weirder long latin names (sorry still kinda new to this speringuis or something like that)


_Spinigerus_ is from the genus _Vaejovis_ but was classified last year as _Hoffimanus spinigerus_ even though we haven't given in to calling it that. As far as barks and Texas, _Centruroides vittatus_ is the only species documented to exist...thus far. As for other localities, such as other states, there are 6 documented species of the genus _Centruroides_ floating around from the east coast to the west coast; one of those species is actually noted to have a range specifically in the Baja but we can just call that an extension of California. I would carry on about species, distribution, and morphological variations across the states of _Centruroides_ but that would be a thread in and of itself and I put it in your hands to lead the charge if you want me to lay it out.

Now _Pseudouroctonus reddelli_ is a species common to Texas with a long scientific name but it's a far cry from a bark scorpion with a common name of Texas Cave Scorpion.


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## winter_in_tears (Nov 17, 2009)

Lay it out!!!!!!!!!!! :clap:  I wanna know!


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## rasputin (Nov 17, 2009)

Kevin,

I neglected to mention one thing in my last post that makes sense with your last post. There is a morph of _C. vittatus_ that resembles _C. sculpturatus_. It's the "pantherensis" morph and the note on telling the difference between it and _C. sculpturatus_ is the visible triangle ot what I like to call burglar mask. That makes 3 morphs of _C. vittatus_ which is another note I neglected to make; there's mesic which comes from a more humid region and is light in color; xeric, which comes from a more arid, desert like region and is darker; and then there is pantherensis which is one lacking color - take in mind that all their ranges cross and you can find all three in the same locale. If you don't have a noted xeric or mesic then you won't be able to just identify the morph and as far as I'm concerned, there's no need to worry about what morph a single specimen is.


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## winter_in_tears (Nov 18, 2009)

what's a morph?


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## rasputin (Nov 18, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> what's a morph?


Hell has frozen over, apparently. A morph is a variant of a particular species. In the case of scorpions, it's generally a color variant. Think of two chocolate chip cookies of different shades.


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## winter_in_tears (Nov 18, 2009)

so basically a scorp that is not pure bred?


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## Selket (Nov 18, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> so basically a scorp that is not pure bred?


No it's not a crossbreed, it's more like how some kind of dogs, brittany spaniel for example has an orangish coloration, but some have brownish coloration.

Same with scorpions, B. Jacksoni for example, the "normal" reddish coloring or the "chocolate" brownish coloring.


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## winter_in_tears (Nov 18, 2009)

ah, ok..thanks.


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## rasputin (Nov 18, 2009)

Yeah, I said one chocolate chip cookie was a different shade from the other - not one chocolate chip cookie tasted like peanut butter. hahaha


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## DireWolf0384 (Nov 20, 2009)

It looks like a C. Vittatus to me. I personally have some.


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## rasputin (Nov 20, 2009)

DireWolf0384 said:


> It looks like a C. Vittatus to me.


Fact established.



DireWolf0384 said:


> I personally have some.


You, and everyone else.


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## DireWolf0384 (Nov 20, 2009)

rasputin said:


> Fact established.
> 
> 
> 
> You, and everyone else.


Whoa, no need to snap at me. I just love those guys.


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## rasputin (Nov 20, 2009)

DireWolf0384 said:


> Whoa, no need to snap at me. I just love those guys.


Not snapping, people need to quit acting like I'm singling them out - it'll be unmistakable if I start lashing out at people.


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## Animalia (Nov 21, 2009)

rasputin said:


> Not snapping, people need to quit acting like I'm singling them out - it'll be unmistakable if I start lashing out at people.


lol sorry i found this quite funny Rasputin


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