# Sexing Desert Hairy Scorpion Help



## MES (Oct 4, 2017)

Hello,
I am new to scorpions and just purchased my first one.  I could use some help determining the sex.  I have a picture I took using a black light.  Is this sufficient to tell?  Thanks for any help!


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## ArachnoDrew (Oct 4, 2017)

Can you count the pectine? Possibly male


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## darkness975 (Oct 4, 2017)

Looks male upon first glance.  

Take a picture without black light.  The black light distorts the view.


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## MES (Oct 7, 2017)

Thank you guys so much for your help! Here is another picture without the blacklight so you can see better. I have tried to count the pectine, and I know it is over 30, but I'm not sure the exact number.


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## Cheyenne Exotics (Oct 22, 2017)

What are pectine


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## RTTB (Oct 22, 2017)

Kind of like the "pectorals" in mammals. The external rib structures underneath. As you can see in the above pic there are left and right toothy structures. Counting those can be an identifier between male and female as their counts differ.


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## marinosro (Feb 21, 2020)

Hey guys
Can you help me here ?
They are both males right ?


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## Dr SkyTower (Feb 22, 2020)

Cheyenne Exotics said:


> What are pectine


They're the name of the feathery things on the underside of the scorpion, used to help identify its sex. They use them to "smell out" stuff.



marinosro said:


> Hey guys
> Can you help me here ?
> They are both males right ?


That first scorpion in this thread looks to be a female because the pectine teeth don't overlap in the centre, its a squarish space (female) and the males have a sort of triangular space between the pectines. Plus males have more teeth on their pectines, and females have less. That will be the same with these pics as well.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Lubed Tweezer (Feb 22, 2020)

When you can't get good focus on the pectine teeth to do a good count (usually due to lack of good macro lens),
you could also have a look around for a good flatbed document scanner.
Put the scorpion on glass of the scanner, cover scorpion with soft filter material used in kitchen fume extractor (don't know what it's called) and scan it.
This way you won't have nice color but great contrast. The scanner only focuses on whats flat on the glass.
Another good way is to get a laboratory grade glass beaker, put scorpion in on the bottom cover him off with a big piece of cotton to keep the scorpion from moving,
turn the glass beaker upside down to take a better picture.
Or buy better macro equipment.....

Reactions: Like 1


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