Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus) with two metasomae!

Jay Keller

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Aug 16, 2016
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I am a naturalist and scorpion enthusiast, but this is my first post to this board. I thought you would all be interested in my observation on Sunday night of an Arizona Bark Scorpion with two metasomae (tails) at Madera Canyon, Arizona USA. See details and photos at iNaturalist below:

http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3902604

Jay Keller,
San Diego
 

Jay Keller

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Aug 16, 2016
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Wow, incredible! Are both metasomae functional?
I am not quite sure yet, but they both appear to be. One of them is typically held closer to the ground while the other is held over the back, but they are both able to be manipulated. I have yet to see it feed, but will take care to document whether one or both are used to sting (though hopefully not on myself).
 

BarkScorps

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Aug 13, 2016
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That is truly the most amazing and mind blowing scorpion:drool:.I can only wish these mutations would occur in captivity.
 

brandontmyers

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I think the craziest part of this is that it is still alive in the wild, most likely a juvenile or subadult. I have seen pictures of them being born in captivity but they usually do not survive to adulthood due to molting problems. Great find on that one!
 

Jay Keller

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Aug 16, 2016
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I just witnessed this individual feeding for the first time (other times were away from my view), and I was amazed to see that it stung the small greenbottle fly with BOTH stingers at almost the same time. Incredible that it would be able to do so!

One other issue I forgot to mention with this earlier is that one of the lower claws is stunted, so it would potentially have some grasping issues, but it didn't seem to impact it in the least during this event.
 

shining

Arachnodemon
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Nice find and thanks for sharing.

Btw, that is not a C. sculpt. but a C. vitattus (pantheriensis form). It's weird though. It shares qualities of the sculpt and vitattus. @Galapoheros, what say you?
 
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chanda

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Jun 27, 2010
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Wow, that is amazing! Even more so because it was wild caught and had survived on its own like that through the first few molts.
 

shining

Arachnodemon
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I checked Bugguide and Rich Ayrey's site and still think it is sculpturatus since vittatus seems to occur only as far west as eastern NM and it doesn't have the dark triangular patch on the carapace.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/16668
http://www.azscorpion.com/

That said, there is always something new to be learned or found!
C.vitattus has been sighted in Az and California. it is not uncommon to find bark scorpions in places they wouldn't normally be, they get around.

Yes, it is missing the mask, but that stripe. I live in the C. sculpt hotspot, lived around them since I was little, have raised a few broods and none have ever looked like that. Then again all species have slight variations according to locale. Then again again, I've never seen a duel metasoma wielding specimen either.

The specific C. vitattus I was referring to doesn't look like your normal C. vitattus either.
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/centruroides-vittatus-pantheriensis-form-babies.164586/

I most certainly could be wrong. Been wrong before, will be again.
 

BobBarley

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Sep 16, 2015
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I wonder if the tail is genetic and if this specimen survives to reproduce, if any of its offspring would have two metasomae. Good luck with that specimen and you definitely have to get that one preserved once it passes!
 
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