Information on Israeli scorpions

Rigelus

Arachnoknight
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Jul 12, 2006
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235
Hi.
Strange..Considering the amount of Scorpio maurus spp there seems to be out there amongst the hobbiests, theres surprisingly very little serious information to find.
What i'm most interested in hearing is whether anyone has had any experience with keeping adult males and females together plus the morphological differences between the sexes.
The same information seems to be lacking for Nebo hierichonticus.

Can anyone help with these 2 species..?
 

Mark Newton

Arachnobaron
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Joined
Mar 9, 2007
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400
Scorpio maurus is in the family Scorpionidae, so possibly take a look at the operculum and genital papillae. Males split operculum with papillae and females fused, no papillae. Just a guess, but maybe worth a try. Probably only useful at the ultimate and penultimate stages.
 

Rigelus

Arachnoknight
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235
Crikey...51 people had to look at this question before you Mark came with something ..... and you've probably never seen either a Scorpio or Nebo before.
Thanks Mate.

Actually i had allready tried to check out the operculum but these guys are just so feisty they won't relax for a moment and i'm not to keen on putting them in the fridge to cool down, at least not just yet.

The chela and hip differences that can be used with many species to identify male and female scorps don't seem to apply to my pair of Scorpio's as they appear to be (to the naked eye) identical.
At the moment i have them housed independently and 1 is constantly out while the other has been hidden since i got them. I'm assuming the show off is the male but it's only a guess.

As for the Nebo's which are also housed independently...well, 1 is quite fat while the other is reasonably slim, so again i'm assuming the fatty is a gravid female.
I should maybe point out that both the Scorpio's and Nebo's are wild caught adults.

However it would be nice to have a bit of definitive info......:?

Likewise i would really appreciate if anyone out there that has kept either of these species together as adults could let me know of your experiences....
 

Mark Newton

Arachnobaron
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400
What about pectine length (number of teeth)? Thats another possibility. Use long plastic tweezers with foam or something on the end and turn the scorp over and pin it against something, just be gentle, they'll be fine.
 

Rigelus

Arachnoknight
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I've allready got the macro photo gear allready set up for it..;) and which i'll be getting into just as soon as i get back from a bit of fishing on the fjord...Theres a Seatrout calling me.
 

Rigelus

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Jul 12, 2006
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235
Hmm water was only 8 degrees so there was no need to try for more than an hour....No seatrout today.

Ok..A pectine count seems to confirm my suspicions of the Scorpio's. The supposed male had a count of 21 while the supposed female had 17. Not just that her pectines were very diminutive compared to the males.

The answer to the Nebo's on the other hand was not so forthcoming.
The "fatty" has a pectine count of 28 while the supposed male has a count of 29. Not just that the fatty appears to have slightly larger pectines than the Nebo i had pegged as a male.

The pictures show the 2 Nebo hierichonticus's.
As for the fused operculum with papillae...well i can see no difference there either..Anyone else.?

This is the "fatty" that i originally had pegged as a female



and here would then of course be the "supposed" male



Anyway..come on people, over 70 souls have checked this thread out...someone must have tried keeping these species together as adults..How did it go, what happened.?
 

Mark Newton

Arachnobaron
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Mar 9, 2007
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From the photos it looks like you've got them the wrong way around...The operculum looks fused in the second shot and the pectines look very female to me. In the first shot the pectines are longer and the operculum is clearly split (Male). Best I can do.
 

Rigelus

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Jul 12, 2006
Messages
235
Yes yes yes...I do to.....especially know you've now said it too M ;-)

It's just so strange to see this very fat wide hipped male together with a slim jim female..
Hmm.....Time will tell.
 

EAD063

Arachnoprince
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Oct 3, 2006
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1,415
I've heard you would sex it like you would pandinus.
 
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