# Opisthacanthus sp CF Madagascariensis from KTBG?



## JavaJacketOC (Aug 29, 2015)

I ordered some of these from Ken the Bug Guy and should have them early next week. Is anyone keeping them? If so, can you share any helpful observations about temperament, preferred temps, etc? Planning to keep them like o.madagascariensis but any additional info would help.

Also, pictures


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 1, 2015)

I haven't been able to find much info about these but in speaking with Ken (or whoever it is that responds to email communication through the website) he believes these are Opisthacanthus Madagascariensis. When placing the order I asked for 2.2 or of course their best guess but from other threads, I've read that there is pretty apparent sexual dimorphism when adults. These are about 3" with the smaller of the males being about 2.5". Those measurements are when they're resting so if the tail was fully extended they're probably a little bigger.

Once I've got them eating regularly and established I'll start messing with them to try and confirm sex. I did respond to Ken asking how they determined sex but haven't gotten a response yet. So far they seem to be in good health and all took two crickets off tongs a few hours after setting them up. I love the shape and color and hope they'll get a little bigger but I'll have to do some digging to see what max sizes have been reported.

Ken said to care for them like emperors so I set them up in 6qt Rubbermaid shoe boxes with about 1" of substrate. I used 2 parts top soil, 2 parts coco fiber and 1 part small orchid bark. I may mix in some sand later but I didn't have any handy when setting them up. Then just some cork bark flats for hiding, 2 of them were holding on to the cork upside down when I decided to offer food, the other 2 were just resting under. 1 side of the container will be cool and damp, the other will have a hot spot of about 85 and be left dry.

Here are some pics, I would appreciate any insight about sexing:

Male 1 (smallest, approx 2.5")






Male 2 






Female 1










Female 2


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## Galapoheros (Sep 1, 2015)

Those have odd looking pectines compared to many other sps., I have one from Mozambique.  I'd put each one in a freezer bag and check them out underneath.  If you see a big diff you have a pair, post pics for info if you do it.


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 1, 2015)

Galapoheros said:


> Those have odd looking pectines compared to many other sps., I have one from Mozambique.  I'd put each one in a freezer bag and check them out underneath.  If you see a big diff you have a pair, post pics for info if you do it.


I will in the next few days after they've settled in. I was going to do it before I set them up but honestly just didn't have time and didn't want to stress them out more after shipping. Thanks for the tip about the freezer bag, should make it easy.


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 2, 2015)

Alright, I had a few minutes today and decided to take Galapoheros' advice on getting pics of the underside. Unfortunately, iPhone = not the best quality so I'll have to try and fine my camera. I tried to sharpen and contrast the pictures through imgur, seemed like it makes things a little more prominent. Anyway, here you go...thoughts?

Labeled as females:
F1






F2 (realized after that the pectines were up on this one after I uploaded)






Labeled as males:
M1






M2 (this one was a little more blurry before editing)






---------- Post added 09-02-2015 at 04:51 PM ----------

Someone also linked this document in another thread, I will try and look through it to determine what characteristics are similar based on the species description but I've never been too good at that. 

http://www.sea-entomologia.org/PDF/BSEA38ARACNO/B38011.pdf

---------- Post added 09-02-2015 at 04:56 PM ----------

It doesn't show it specifically for o.madagascariensis but it looks like the genital operculum for females is uniform where as on the males it looks like 2 separate pieces of the oval coming together. Hard to see if all the pics but the F1 and M1 shows this.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 2, 2015)

The operculum is generally a different shape between the sexes of scorpion species, some more than others and there is often a different pectine tooth count number along with the pectine teeth often being longer on males.  It's not that way all the time though, depending on the species, some look almost the same.  It looks like they were labeled the right way to me but the pics are a little blurry like you said.  The male I've had for years died the other day, I'd post pics to compare if I could.  I think the female is about too have babies so I don't want to mess with taking pics right now.

Reactions: Like 1


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 3, 2015)

Galapoheros said:


> The operculum is generally a different shape between the sexes of scorpion species, some more than others and there is often a different pectine tooth count number along with the pectine teeth often being longer on males.  It's not that way all the time though, depending on the species, some look almost the same.  It looks like they were labeled the right way to me but the pics are a little blurry like you said.  The male I've had for years died the other day, I'd post pics to compare if I could.  I think the female is about too have babies so I don't want to mess with taking pics right now.


How large is your female and how long has she been gravid? From what I understand these can go 12-16 months and birth can be triggered on climate changes. I assume the coming of the rainy season triggers birth but these apparently come from a relatively dry area.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 3, 2015)

Small, maybe around 2 inches.  They live a pretty long time, this one was captive born over here, this is the last one.  You don't know how old yours are though.  I don't want the family branch to die so I'm hoping she will have babies.  She's looked fat for almost a year I guess. The one I have here carry the babies underneath instead of on their back, looks kind of strange, and tiring.  That's how it was last time anyway.  I'm still not sure what sps of Op. this one is, I just know it's from Mozambique.  Earlier today I added water to some chunks of coco fiber, that might help.


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 3, 2015)

Galapoheros said:


> Small, maybe around 2 inches.  They live a pretty long time, this one was captive born over here, this is the last one.  You don't know how old yours are though.  I don't want the family branch to die so I'm hoping she will have babies.  She's looked fat for almost a year I guess. The one I have here carry the babies underneath instead of on their back, looks kind of strange, and tiring.  That's how it was last time anyway.  I'm still not sure what sps of Op. this one is, I just know it's from Mozambique.  Earlier today I added water to some chunks of coco fiber, that might help.


Holy Moly that's a thick bish...lol. Looks cool, so black it looks purple and bluish, very pretty. based on that paper maybe it's opisthacanthus piceus? Most of the others in this group are significantly smaller than piceus and madagascariensis but the defining characteristic of piceus seems to be the color:
RELATIONSHIPS: The new species can be distinguished from O. madagascariensis and from the other Malagasy species by the following characters: (i) a very intense global blackish coloration, (ii) different morphometric values, and (iii) genital operculum formed by two large round to oval plates

I think piceus are only found in a certain area that doesn't line up with being from Mozambique, unless I'm reading the paper wrong (which is very well possible). In any event, she's pretty.


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## G. Carnell (Sep 4, 2015)

Do you guys recommend this genus/species?

I fancy buying 4-5 or so, my choice is between this species OR

Iurus sp
Paleocheloctonus (may be crap ID)


Never had an Opistacanthus!  are these semi arboreal in your experiences?


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## Galapoheros (Sep 4, 2015)

I think they’re kind of cool, they’re kind of goofy to me in a funny way.  They will pinch your finger pretty fast haha, kind of feisty.  The one I have might be semi arboreal, I need to test that, never have.  What makes me think it might be is because the male has a weird way of calling the female.  He vibrates his body, bumping up and down on something to make a noise.  It sounds like a ping pong ball taking short bounces until it stops.  I was sitting in the bug room, “..what is that noise?”  So I suspect it does this on wood that would make a louder noise.  Just guessing but now I think I remember reading something about that.


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 4, 2015)

G. Carnell said:


> Do you guys recommend this genus/species?
> 
> I fancy buying 4-5 or so, my choice is between this species OR
> 
> ...


I think I read they're somewhat arboreal but I'm keeping them in shoe boxes for now. They do hang upside down under the cork bark sometimes.


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## G. Carnell (Sep 11, 2015)

Hey

So i went ahead and got some, labelled as the same species: opistacanthus madagascariensis

However mine seem to look a lot more 'hadogenes' like than opistacanthus!  Also seems to be sexual dimorphism at the pedipalp level - do you see this in yours?

'male' 

	
	
		
		
	


	




Subadult/possible 'fem'


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## JavaJacketOC (Sep 22, 2015)

G. Carnell said:


> Hey
> 
> So i went ahead and got some, labelled as the same species: opistacanthus madagascariensis
> 
> ...


Did you get these from Ken? None of mine have pedipalps ike that. It's also possible mine are not full size yet, how large are yours?

---------- Post added 09-22-2015 at 08:54 PM ----------




Galapoheros said:


> Small, maybe around 2 inches.  They live a pretty long time, this one was captive born over here, this is the last one.  You don't know how old yours are though.  I don't want the family branch to die so I'm hoping she will have babies.  She's looked fat for almost a year I guess. The one I have here carry the babies underneath instead of on their back, looks kind of strange, and tiring.  That's how it was last time anyway.  I'm still not sure what sps of Op. this one is, I just know it's from Mozambique.  Earlier today I added water to some chunks of coco fiber, that might help.


Did she pop yet?


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