How to sex Anuroctonus pococki:

neubii18

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
74
I just thought I'd make a thread showing the sexual dimorphism in A.pococki.This is my favorite US species,tied with C.gracillis(which I'll be getting a nice group of shortly!).They are obligate burrowers,and are a pain in the butt do dig out,but totally worth it.I am lucky enough to have a nicely sized population less than 10 minutes drive from my house.I will be focusing on getting these guys into the hobby this year and years to come.I've heard it's really difficult to breed them,as they need to have their intricate burrow system,and that's hard to replicate in captivity.I will be doing my best to do all of this.I have a few really gravid females,so I may get lucky!

Anyways,the key to sexing these guys is their telson.Males have a much larger telson,and have a bump right before the actual stinger.They also seem to be lighter in color,a little larger,and more aggressive.Additionally,I have noticed that they rarely burrow half as far as the females do.I would assume this is because they leave the burrows frequently to mate.Here are a couple pictures:

A female:


And a male(noticed the shear size of the telson,and the lighter colors):


And here's a shot comparing the 2.Female on left,male on right:


I hope this can help some people sex and eventually breed this amazing species to get them into the hobby,and eliminate the need to collect them.If you have any questions,feel free to ask!
 

Envyizm

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Messages
194
Very cool, Asn. I've seen scorpions show dimorphism in so many different ways, but never through mass of the telson itself. Keep us all posted on how the breeding goes.
 

neubii18

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
74
Very cool, Asn. I've seen scorpions show dimorphism in so many different ways, but never through mass of the telson itself. Keep us all posted on how the breeding goes.
Thanks!I think it's pretty cool too.I'll definately keep y'all update on how the breeding unfolds.I'd like to get in touch with a few others that will be breeding these guys so we can swap bloodlines and keep the gene pools larger.If anyone is,let me know!
 

H. laoticus

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Messages
1,017
Hey, nice writeup :D
I've been trying to get my hands on these guys for quite a long time, but this summer is when I'll be heading back to S. CA and I'll be pushing myself to get out and dig up a few.
 
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