# 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.


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## Nikos

euscorpius italicus
notice the difference in the "venom glad"

female







male


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## 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*

Reactions: Like 1


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## 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


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## 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)

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## Nikos

*Lychas mucronatus*

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


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## Nazgul

Hi,

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

Regards
Alex

Reactions: Disagree 1


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## 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!)


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## 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)


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## 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


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## 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


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## 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)

Reactions: Informative 1


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## G. Carnell

Bump


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


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## sweetmisery

Very good info thread. Thanks!


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## ScorpDude

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


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## 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


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## 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.


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## ACC

Anybody know the differences to look for dune scorpion? thanks

Reactions: Like 1


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## Ryan C.

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

Reactions: Like 1


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## Nazgul

Brian S said:


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



Me too 

1.) male

2.) female

Reactions: Like 1


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## Prymal

*Photos: Anuroctonus species*

The photos below illustrate the secondary aculear bulb of adult males of Anuroctonus species (A. phaiodactylus & A. pococki: Iuridae) in comparison to the typical telson (aculeus) of females:

Photos 1 & 2: Adult males A. pococki
Photos 3 & 4: Adult females A. pococki

Luc


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## Potato

I have two Imperators and I cannot figure out the difference between the male and female. Those large pictures look the same to me except for the level of lighting/flash. I tried taking photos but I can't get a clear shot of the underbelly. Not clear enough to count the ridges, anyway.


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## ~Abyss~

Why did this thread stop? Rise my dead thread rise!!!Any new info on sexing? I could really use some tips for sexing Lq's.


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## jamesc

*L. q.*

I responded in your thread but I guess I'll post here too. I don't have a picture of a female's pectines with me, just the male's.

If they are siblings it will not hurt to breed them. Females are bigger and usually more robust looking. The one way to check is to count the pectines but being that this species is pretty dangerous it won't be easy. The easy way to remember is if you are getting a count in the 30's it is a male and a count in the 20's is female. You can look up the exact numbers but you can pretty much tell without counting. If the pectines are close together and long you have a male. here is a shot of one of my male's pectines.





You see how they meet in a V at the base? A female's won't meet like that. They will be shorter and further apart like this \ /

This is the easist way I have found to get a shot. Get them in a clear cup and take a macro shot from underneath.


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## ~Abyss~

Thanks a lot. I figured that this might be better for anyone else thats looking for questions on sexing thanks for replying to both post.


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## jamesc

vardoulas said:


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


Since this picture is gone, I will show one of my female. See how the fingers close together when closed. || the male's are curved and a gap is created by the curve like this ()


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## ~Abyss~

I'm suprised that theres nothing here on Flatrocks. I guess because of the disagreements people have when sexing them. But I'm pretty sure H. paucidens are easily diferentuated. Males will have noticibly long tails in comparison to their body while females have a stubby small tail.  Male_____>, Female __>

Reactions: Agree 1


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## jamesc

abyss_X3 said:


> I'm suprised that theres nothing here on Flatrocks. I guess because of the disagreements people have when sexing them. But I'm pretty sure H. paucidens are easily diferentuated. Males will have noticibly long tails in comparison to their body while females have a stubby small tail.  Male_____>, Female __>


Here is a pic of my female, I don't have a male but they have an elongated metasoma.


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## Mr. Mordax

G. Carnell said:


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


More missing pictures!  

I'll contribute my _Pandinus imperator_ sexing photos, which should work for most if not all _Pandinus_ and _Heterometrus_ species.

Male:






Female:






The pectine and tooth size differences are very visible in these photos, as is the difference in the genital operculum.


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## Rigelus

*Scorpio maurus fuscus*

A very defined difference in pectine size clearly illustrates the different gender with Scorpio maurus fuscus.

*Heres the male*







*and heres the female*


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## Bayushi

Rigelus..  Thanks for posting the pics. the moment i saw them i immdeiately went to check my _S maurus_ and was able to confirm i have a male.  Now to find a female  for him.....


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## ~Abyss~

jamesc said:


> Here is a pic of my female, I don't have a male but they have an elongated metasoma.


This is a crappy picture of a male. YOu can see compared to the female the metasoma is longer altough my bad photography cut most of it out the picture. It's a young male.


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## Rigelus

> Rigelus.. Thanks for posting the pics


The pleasure was all mine.. 

/Bryan


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## EAD063

jamesc said:


> Here is a pic of my female, I don't have a male but they have an elongated metasoma.


I like comapred segment length than overall, which as you said is elongated on males.   This is male, see segment IV, that was a direct tip-off to me.







Edit: James, you sure thats female?  I guess your right abot a bit of dissary in the sexing of them, cause yours looks male to me, lol.   Notice how it matches both the succeeding pictures.


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## Bayushi

Here's a pic of my male H trog.  
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w286/Bayushi_2007/Htrog.jpg

Reactions: Like 1


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## Dom

:? Both of Jamesc H. paucidens look like females to me:? . In the pics of males I've seen the "stinger" is about 1/2 the length of the 4th segment of the metasoma. Both the pics look very much like my female.


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## jamesc

jamesc said:


> I responded in your thread but I guess I'll post here too. I don't have a picture of a female's pectines with me, just the male's.
> 
> If they are siblings it will not hurt to breed them. Females are bigger and usually more robust looking. The one way to check is to count the pectines but being that this species is pretty dangerous it won't be easy. The easy way to remember is if you are getting a count in the 30's it is a male and a count in the 20's is female. You can look up the exact numbers but you can pretty much tell without counting. If the pectines are close together and long you have a male. here is a shot of one of my male's pectines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You see how they meet in a V at the base? A female's won't meet like that. They will be shorter and further apart like this \ /
> 
> This is the easist way I have found to get a shot. Get them in a clear cup and take a macro shot from underneath.


For some reason I can't edit this post so I will put the missing picture back of the L. q. pectines. (and yes my H. paucidens is female)


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## jamesc

*Uroctonus mordax*

Uroctonus mordax males have a split genital operculum and in females it is fused. I only have a male so if anyone has a female shot please add it.






here it is circled


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## Mr. Mordax

Female _U. mordax_:







The pectines in the female look a little "straighter" as well; I'm not sure if this is an indicator or just a coincidence.


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## ~Abyss~

Well from what I can tell now (altough my lq's aren't mature yet) It seems like I have one male and one female. I'll wait to they get bigger to get exited but for right now i'm keeping my fingers crossed. THanks for the info JamesC. Hopefully by the time they get bigger I'll have a new camera and will post up pictures to see what you guys think.

Reactions: Like 1


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## jamesc

jamesc said:


> Here is a pic of my female, I don't have a male but they have an elongated metasoma.


Well here is a pectine shot to go with my picture  






Any guesses?


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## Mr. Mordax

Those pectines look pretty girly to me . . . and those tail segments are short, as well.  My guess is female.


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## ScorpDude

Does the sexing technique for Lychas mucronatus apply to all Lychas sp.?


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## H. cyaneus

I don't believe so, ScorpDude. L. sculitus(spelling?) has elongated mestoma segments.

Mike


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## Jaffster

I'm giving this a bump because it's extremely usefull.

Could anybody host pictures of heterometrus spinifer sexing?

Thanks


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## Brian S

Its the exact same as P imperator


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## H. cyaneus

Hello,

Also, in Heterometrus species the genital operclum of males will be "pointed" towards the carapace of the scorpion. 

Mike


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## Brian S

Babycurus jacksoni and Babycurus gigas can be sexed by the chela when adults. 

Males have a bulbous chela (claw)


Females have a thinner chela like this female B gigas


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## G. Carnell

heres the old pics i uploaded on H.laoticus
typical larger pectines in the male

(big pics)
Male:
www.chaerilus.co.uk/malelao.JPG

female:
www.chaerilus.co.uk/femlao.JPG


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## kahoy

G. Carnell said:


> heres the old pics i uploaded on H.laoticus
> typical larger pectines in the male
> 
> (big pics)
> Male:
> www.chaerilus.co.uk/malelao.JPG
> 
> female:
> www.chaerilus.co.uk/femlao.JPG



HE IS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAIL THE HET KING!!!!!!!
:worship: :worship: :worship:


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## Thaedion

*Hadogenes paucidens (Pocock, 1896)*

*Here is a pic of Hadogenes paucidens (Pocock, 1896)
male and female.*


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## Mr. Mordax

About time for a nice comparison shot!  :clap:  I think that settles it, both Abyss and I have females.


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## ftorres

HEllo,
How can you tell between B jacksoni and B gigas????

regards
FT


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## Ryan C.

Hey all,

How to sex some _Hottentotta sp._.(Such as - _trilineatus_ and _hottentotta_.







Males also have more bulbous chela - seen in this picture







Cheers,
Ryan


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## ~Abyss~

IHeartMantids said:


> About time for a nice comparison shot!  :clap:  I think that settles it, both Abyss and I have females.


Sorry wrong again. I'll take a more recent photo. Very long tail. With very long segments. The other picture he was younger one molt youger actually and some of the tail wasn't in the shot. Or you can ask any of the SCABIES members that saw it Nbond and Cacoseraph saw it.


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## sykokid

hi
firstly let me apologise for asking a question on my first post, i know
it seems very noobish  
anywayz, 



jamesc said:


> I responded in your thread but I guess I'll post here too. I don't have a picture of a female's pectines with me, just the male's.
> 
> If they are siblings it will not hurt to breed them. Females are bigger and usually more robust looking. The one way to check is to count the pectines but being that this species is pretty dangerous it won't be easy. The easy way to remember is if you are getting a count in the 30's it is a male and a count in the 20's is female. You can look up the exact numbers but you can pretty much tell without counting. If the pectines are close together and long you have a male. here is a shot of one of my male's pectines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You see how they meet in a V at the base? A female's won't meet like that. They will be shorter and further apart like this \ /
> 
> This is the easist way I have found to get a shot. Get them in a clear cup and take a macro shot from underneath.


is that the only difference between lq males and females, the pectines?
u said the female was more robust looking, could u clarify?


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## Cyris69

Now this is a male Hadogenes paucidens tail


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## sykokid

thats a beautiful tail


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## kean

*male or female?*

dunno if this one's male or female.. but posted this for reference.. i'm sure someone here knows..  

Opistophthalmus Wahlbergii


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## Vincent

Tityus trinitatis 
left: female
right: male






Lychas scutilus
female





male






Tityus zulianus
female





male






Tityus paraensis
top: female
bottom: male






Tityus bahiensis
female





male


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## dogdog512

*Sexing Your Scorpion*

Sexing Your Scorpion


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## Mr. Mordax

What species is that?  The split / fused operculum is the same as in _U. mordax_, but the pectines look the same.


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## ~Abyss~

what scorp is that? And congrats on reviving this thread haven't seen it in a LONG time.
-Eddy


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## Xaranx

Babycurus jacksoni and Babycurus gigas

Males and females are easy to tell apart, the male develops an extremely bulbous chela compared to females who do bulk up a bit in the chela but nowhere near as much as the males.  







These species has already been covered I'm sure but thought I would throw this picture up here.


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## harveythefly

any info on sexing Opisthacanthus madagascariensis? mine are still pretty small but i was wondering if there was any obvious sexual dimorphism

thanks
Harvey


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## Nich

*Androctonus mauritanicus*

Four examles of what I believe are female Androctonus mauritanicus, females lack the notch found on the male pedipalps fixed "finger".







The top and bottom pic on the left are more mature, they do have a small indent on the fixed pedipalp finger, but the notch of the males is much more noticable.  

Great thread so far...:clap:


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## Nungunugu

You can also sex the A.mauritanicus by counting the pectine teeth.

male 25-30; female 20-24


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## bjaeger

Anyone know how many pectine teeth are on emps?


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## cannabeast

can anybody tell if this tityus stigmurus is a male or female?




the picture take of the underside is garbage sorry, it wouldnt focus with the glass.


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## cannabeast

bump.......................


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## cannabeast

will anyone identify this guy?


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## Michiel

T.stigmurus is an all female, parthenogenetic species.


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## cannabeast

ha HEY thanks MICHIEL thats good news.


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## AzJohn

Bump.......
In order to help with the multiple "what sex is my emp" threads going around. This thread is listed in the Stickys under the Commonly used thread index. It's a real good place to start.


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## Envyizm

Here's one species I don't believe has been posted yet:

Freshly molted Tityus bastosi male showing signs of the bulbous chela at 5th instar






Tityus bastosi 5th instar female for comparison






Not really sure if sexing by a P.T.C (Pectinal Tooth Count) is a reliable way of sexing for this genus, let alone this species. I took the time to count two recently molted males to get the same number of 16 teeth. I'll chime in some more information as some of my males and females molt again and I get a count.


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## nielson

*can someone help me*

pls help me sex this 3 h. longimanus.


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## GiantVinegaroon

Is it possible for someone to post pictures showing the differences of the sexes of _Ophistothalmus walberghi_?


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## makis

Hello. Could someone help me with this H. spinifer sexing?


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## Ovidiu

Help me please with this imperator


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## Mathayus

Paruroctonus boreus

Males: Thinner, more "athletic" built, slightly longer legs and metasoma, and pectines protrude out past the mesosoma (are wider than the body width) and are visible if viewed from above.

Females: Stockier, larger bodied, and the pectines only protrude half the body width.


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## moymoy

Nich said:


> Four examles of what I believe are female Androctonus mauritanicus, females lack the notch found on the male pedipalps fixed "finger".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top and bottom pic on the left are more mature, they do have a small indent on the fixed pedipalp finger, but the notch of the males is much more noticable.
> 
> Great thread so far...:clap:


do this apply to all Androctonus species? It's kinda hard to count the pectines.. I have blurry vision and my eyeglasses makes me vomit lol


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## Insertcoolnamehere

Bump


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## Lorenzo Benevento

G. Carnell said:


> 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)


There is no pics. This post is amazing, but a lot of pics are missing.


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## Cpitt

I know this is an old post, but does anyone have any idea on differences between male and female Leiurus quinquestriatus?


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## Quetzalcoatl Nyarlathotep

Please help me sex these Androctonus Gonneti?? Can they be sexed?


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## ArachnoDrew

Geb Arachnia Whitney said:


> Please help me sex these Androctonus Gonneti?? Can they be sexed?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 330453
> View attachment 330454


Only if you can count the teeth

Reactions: Like 2


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## BadDen

ArachnoDrew said:


> Only if you can count the teeth


Could you say, how many teeth should be in male/female of A. gonneti?


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## Dr SkyTower

With parabuthus villosus oranje morph you can tell the sexes by the size of the hands. Males have fat hands and females have slender hands. Females are also bigger and more tank-like than the slimmer males.
Its basically the same across all three colour morphs of this species.


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## DezertRatt

This is an awesome post, and it should be brought back to life with many more photos since most of them are gone...fantastic info.  Nothing changes in 17 years regarding this subject!

Reactions: Like 1


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