Blue Scorpions?

[BugToxin]

Scorpion Keepers,
Early this year I took a trip to Costa Rica and asked one of our naturalist guides about finding any interesting local inverts. Most of what he told me I already knew, however he did mention seeing a bright blue scorpion once inside an attic. Not knowing much about scorpions, I did a little research and found a picture of Tityus silvestris on Mr. Ythier's website. I had forgotten about it untill Arachnocon when it came up in a converstation. I asked a few people about the mysterious blue scorpion and nobody knew what I was talking about. Anyway, here is a link to the website with the picture:

http://perso.orange.fr/eycb/scorpions/GamSud.htm

So here are my questions. 1) Is this scorpion really as blue as it looks in the picture? 2) Has anyone ever actually seen a live specimin of this scorpion? 3) Are there any other bright blue scorpions? 4) Has this or any other blue scorpion ever been found in Costa Rica?

I'm not really into keeping scorpions much, but this has really gotten my curiosity up. Can anyone educate me here?

 

[JSN]

I'll assume your talking about the picture of the Tityus silvestris female (French Guyana)...I've never seen one of these in person, but hey, it looks pretty blue to me...hopefully someone else can give you more to go on than I...

 

[Arietans]

There are some incredible looking scorpions in that link.

 

[Michiel]

tityus silvestris

The scorpionpicture on the site of Ythier is a juvenile Tityus silvestris (I can't sex it. JSN how do you know it is a male, since it is a juvenile??), that's why it is so brightly coloured, with all those spots and speckles....An adult is more darkly coloured and lack these spots and speckles. This species is very rare in private scorpion collections, at least it is a highly sought after species....
Tityus silvestris occurs in Suriname and French Guyana. I'm not an expert on this genus and it is possible that this species occurs in Costa Rica (which has a very rich and divers scorpion fauna), I however doubt it. There is a another scorpion species that looks kind of blueish,almost purpleshine, but only when freshly molted: Hottentotte franzwerneri gentili..I'm sure there are other species with a blueish colouration...
Ask Tom for more info, he knows al lot about Tityus......

 

[JSN]

The scorpionpicture on the site of Ythier is a juvenile Tityus silvestris (I can't sex it. JSN how do you know it is a male, since it is a juvenile??), that's why it is so brightly coloured, with all those spots and speckles....An adult is more darkly coloured and lack these spots and speckles. This species is very rare in private scorpion collections, at least it is a highly sought after species....
Tityus silvestris occurs in Suriname and French Guyana. I'm not an expert on this genus and it is possible that this species occurs in Costa Rica (which has a very rich and divers scorpion fauna), I however doubt it. There is a another scorpion species that looks kind of blueish,almost purpleshine, but only when freshly molted: Hottentotte franzwerneri gentili..I'm sure there are other species with a blueish colouration...
Ask Tom for more info, he knows al lot about Tityus......

I didn't know what it was until I read what it said under the picture, it said female...:?

 

[Michiel]

Well,

If it says so under the picture, who am I to disagree????

I now this picture because I try to specialize in the species of Surinam and the other Guyana's. Didn't remember the subscript (does this word exist in English??). I just checked the picture and you are quite right!
I'll ask Eric how he sexed this critter....

 

[Scorpfanatic]

cant view the link ...

its says:_

Site suspendu par modération

Ce site a été suspendu par l’équipe de modération des pages perso.

Si vous en êtes le propriétaire, vous devez avoir reçu un courriel vous expliquant les raisons de sa suspension. Si vous souhaitez rétablir votre site Internet, merci de nous contacter au plus vite par courriel à l’adresse suivante: moderation.pagesperso.internet@orange-ft.com

 

[Crono]

cant view the link ...

its says:_

Site suspendu par modération

Ce site a été suspendu par l’équipe de modération des pages perso.

Si vous en êtes le propriétaire, vous devez avoir reçu un courriel vous expliquant les raisons de sa suspension. Si vous souhaitez rétablir votre site Internet, merci de nous contacter au plus vite par courriel à l’adresse suivante: moderation.pagesperso.internet@orange-ft.com

Translation: (Roughly, since I speak Quebecois french )
Site suspended by Moderation (Probably refering to administration)
This site has been suspended by the "pages perso" Moderating team.

Then it goes on to mention stuff only applicable to the owner about contacting them, etc..


I seriously hope that this was taken down by mistake, or something stupid like going over his bandwidth.

 

[BugToxin]

The scorpionpicture on the site of Ythier is a juvenile Tityus silvestris (I can't sex it. JSN how do you know it is a male, since it is a juvenile??), that's why it is so brightly coloured, with all those spots and speckles....An adult is more darkly coloured and lack these spots and speckles. This species is very rare in private scorpion collections, at least it is a highly sought after species....
Tityus silvestris occurs in Suriname and French Guyana. I'm not an expert on this genus and it is possible that this species occurs in Costa Rica (which has a very rich and divers scorpion fauna), I however doubt it. There is a another scorpion species that looks kind of blueish,almost purpleshine, but only when freshly molted: Hottentotte franzwerneri gentili..I'm sure there are other species with a blueish colouration...
Ask Tom for more info, he knows al lot about Tityus......

Michiel,
Excellent information. Thanks!!! It makes perfect sense that a juvinile would have different coloration, and would explain why other people might not have cosidered it a blue scorpion, especially if they had never seen a young specimin or this picture. As for Hottentotta Franzwerneri, I have seen adults of this species in person and they always looked black. I'll keep my eyes open to see if I can see any freshly molted or juviniles. Unfortunately I'm still not sure if my guide in Costa Rica actually saw a blue scorpion or not, but that is often the case with bug tales I supose. Like you, I doubt that Tityus silvestris occours in Costa Rica. If it did it would likely be more available in the pet trade. Perhaps though. We can only hope.

BTW - Mr. Ythier's site was up when I just checked it a few minutes ago.