Alacran Tartarus

Arachno Kid

Arachnoknight
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This is going to make me sound really stupid, but I am wondering if any of the members have seen or kept one of these in captivity, or are keeping them. I have only seen one pic and it was on Jan's site ( Aka, The Scorpion Files). It was only a preserved specimen , so I am taking this as a rare scorpion, heh.


Here is a link to the piccy
http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/a_tartarus.jpg


Please post if you guys know.
Eli
 

Vixvy

Arachnobaron
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Rare and cool! I guess its a male. hahaha!
 

LeilaNami

Arachnoking
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that's an awesome scorp. I usually like the tanks but this little thin one is kinda cool.
 

fusion121

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I can say pretty certainly that that species is not kept in captivity
 

Thaedion

Arachnoangel
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Here is an interesting tid-bit I found searching the Alacran tartarus
Appx. type locality for the troglobitic scorpion *Alacran tartarus* Francke, 1982. Family Superstitioniidae.
Type locality is Sotano de San Agustin in the Huautla System, the 8th deepest cave system in the world. This scorpion was found at 720 m below the surface.
Known only from caves in this system.
Alacran is the Spanish for word "scorpion", having its roots in Arabic.


Google earth Location of said scorp

720m below the surface, now that would be a hard habitat to recreate in the living room :p
 

Arachno Kid

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Isnt this a cute little bugger, I love them they are way cool. I could tell it would be hard to recreate, but it would be well worth it in my book. I need some.... I guess I will have to do more research.
 

LeilaNami

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I looked through google and the only information I found was that it holds the record for being found at lowest depth and a couple mentions of it through papers but never in detail or anymore than you can find on the Scorpion Files. Crap I like it even more than P. dictator :D
 

kahoy

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it got no eyes and quite seems to be well adapted on its environment, may have never ever been exposed to light so having one might unlock the mistery of "scorpion's GLOW" and if you can get one, the question is what kind of set-up can you provide for that scorp?
 

EAD063

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I wonder if the reason it is now a preserved specimen is because of the differences in pressure between down there and the surface or because of over exposure to heat or light, I don't belive we have too many cave dwellers in captivity. I also wonder if they have lateral eyes, obviously they lack median eyes. The very bulbous telson on that realitivly thin metamosa makes me wonder what the heck it hunts way down there. On another thought, I wonder if these cave dwellers are the "miissing" link between primiative and new world species. Wow Eli, you may have opened up a can of questions on this one!

Ed
 

LeilaNami

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We also don't know the effect any light would have on such a specimen.
 

Arachno Kid

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I was wondering about the tempature as well as the pressure, The prey is most likely roaches because of the bat "mulch", but I didnt know bats could go down that far. I read somewhere that they are a pretty medium sized species only reaching around 3'in at the most. The last picture of one of these was in 1984 so I am taking one of these would be a really rare find, adding the reported date and depth to get to them. No eyes for these guys as I can see either, thats what makes me wonder about these guys. But info is limited on this species as far as I can see, I will have to look in on it some more.
 

marcelo_987

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I don't think pressure changes in caves. That's only underwater. I wonder what the temperature is down 720m? I know coal mines are really hot. That scorp is really cool looking. We need a live specimen like the live deep sea shark they found off Japan.
 

EAD063

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I don't think pressure changes in caves. That's only underwater. I wonder what the temperature is down 720m? I know coal mines are really hot. That scorp is really cool looking. We need a live specimen like the live deep sea shark they found off Japan.
I would assume it does, just as the air pressure rises when you go up a mountain or to a very high place. The air also thins out as you go up, so I assume it must be thick down there, probally tons of Co2.
 

Dom

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Would it be fair to assume that it has a fairly low reproductive rate also?
 

Galapoheros

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I don't think pressure changes in caves. That's only underwater. I wonder what the temperature is down 720m? I know coal mines are really hot. That scorp is really cool looking. We need a live specimen like the live deep sea shark they found off Japan.
Yea, I also don't think air pressure change would be significant. The surface referred to may be 1000 or more meters above see level. That would mean that the scorp was found above see level. So, I don't think air pressure would matter. Also it might be the case that the species has been found 10 meters or less into the cave and all the way down to 720m and prob not the case that it's found only real deep into the cave but, ..maybe. Just doesn't make sense to me that it can survive only in deep parts of the cave unless that's only where it's food is. Interesting scorp. It'd be interesting to get more info about it.
 

EAD063

Arachnoprince
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Yea, I also don't think air pressure change would be significant. The surface referred to may be 1000 or more meters above see level. That would mean that the scorp was found above see level. So, I don't think air pressure would matter. Also it might be the case that the species has been found 10 meters or less into the cave and all the way down to 720m and prob not the case that it's found only real deep into the cave but, ..maybe. Just doesn't make sense to me that it can survive only in deep parts of the cave unless that's only where it's food is. Interesting scorp. It'd be interesting to get more info about it.
Very true, I'd be interested to find out what level the opening it at. Still the fact that the scorpion has no median eyes would gennerally make a stiff assumption that you cannot find the scorpion near the surface. I don't if air pressure does happen in deep caverns but I've heard they're are unusual wind patterns inside caverns.
 

kahoy

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Very true, I'd be interested to find out what level the opening it at. Still the fact that the scorpion has no median eyes would gennerally make a stiff assumption that you cannot find the scorpion near the surface. I don't if air pressure does happen in deep caverns but I've heard they're are unusual wind patterns inside caverns.
i second that...

as what i can see on the picture it has NO eyes, long legs, thin and long metasoma and a large telson, it has meduim sized chelae, so another thing that we dont know is about its venom.

it may not ever been exposed to light and might be isolated and forced to adapt on its environment.

if glow is related to mating, how the hell can it see its mate's glow if there is no light or UV that can go on that place...

...............


about the prey item i think i have an idea, BAT FLEASS!!! ;P ;P ;P
maybe some beetles or worms, or roaches that eat rocks...
who knows...
:D
 

EAD063

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it may not ever been exposed to light and might be isolated and forced to adapt on its environment.
Which was exactly what I had in mind when I responded to the post before mine. Animals do not have a choice where they are going evolve. For all we know there could have been a massive population a million years ago right in the area where that cavren collapsed, so with out question they would have no choice but to adapt to they're habitat. These scorps would probaly provide some assistance in the extraocular sensitivity field of study.

***MY NEW GOAL: I am going to start with a picture of pangea and make a general diameter of where land masses close to the site that are now seperated use to be. Then take as many species that I can find from those areas and see if they show any anatomic resemblance. :)
 
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