is H.spinifer the most abundant in the hobby?

[snappleWhiteTea]

I'm only speaking for scorpions belonging to the heterometrus genus, i always thought that h.spinifer was the most popular but lately i have been seeing them less and less.

 

[Galapoheros]

Oh man, I have almost given up on seeing a true specimen of H. spinifer. I've seen at least four different species ID'd as H. spinifer and each self proclaimed expert thinks their ID is the correct one, diagrams, granulation, what about other species not in the diagrams that might have similar granulation patterns? I've seen knowledgeable people here debate over it with no concrete ID in the end imo. I have a species right now that apparently shows strong sexual dimorphism, I will know in a year or two. They have been ID'd as spinifer AND longimanus. Does spinifer show obvious sexual dimorphism in the chela like I expect these to do?, ..if they are anything like the parents. If spinifer doesn't express sexual dimorphism through the chela, these I have should not be spinifer(?) but they may have a close enough granulation pattern to ID as spinifer, ....kind of a mess imo. Or if somebody has a "definite" ID method for spinifer, please let me know:worship:.

 

[H. laoticus]

Oh man, I have almost given up on seeing a true specimen of H. spinifer. I've seen at least four different species ID'd as H. spinifer and each self proclaimed expert thinks their ID is the correct one, diagrams, granulation, what about other species not in the diagrams that might have similar granulation patterns? I've seen knowledgeable people here debate over it with no concrete ID in the end imo. I have a species right now that apparently shows strong sexual dimorphism, I will know in a year or two. They have been ID'd as spinifer AND longimanus. Does spinifer show obvious sexual dimorphism in the chela like I expect these to do?, ..if they are anything like the parents. If spinifer doesn't express sexual dimorphism through the chela, these I have should not be spinifer(?) but they may have a close enough granulation pattern to ID as spinifer, ....kind of a mess imo. Or if somebody has a "definite" ID method for spinifer, please let me know:worship:.

lol this and I don't think they're H. spinifer either.

 

[Michiel]

Oh man, I have almost given up on seeing a true specimen of H. spinifer. I've seen at least four different species ID'd as H. spinifer and each self proclaimed expert thinks their ID is the correct one, diagrams, granulation, what about other species not in the diagrams that might have similar granulation patterns? I've seen knowledgeable people here debate over it with no concrete ID in the end imo. I have a species right now that apparently shows strong sexual dimorphism, I will know in a year or two. They have been ID'd as spinifer AND longimanus. Does spinifer show obvious sexual dimorphism in the chela like I expect these to do?, ..if they are anything like the parents. If spinifer doesn't express sexual dimorphism through the chela, these I have should not be spinifer(?) but they may have a close enough granulation pattern to ID as spinifer, ....kind of a mess imo. Or if somebody has a "definite" ID method for spinifer, please let me know:worship:.

If there is one species that exhibits obvious sexual dimorphism it is H.longimanus! Even I can see the difference

 

[RyoKenzaki]

You probably wouldn't believe how many H.spinifer you will see our country here... They are like emperor scorp in the us

 

[Galapoheros]

Hey Michiel, this may be info I've been looking for off and on for a while now! The male was bigger and had "much" bigger chela than the female. Is this typical of longimanus? I hope so because longimanus is what I wanted when I bought the pair, thanks for the info.

 

[Galapoheros]

I'm only speaking for scorpions belonging to the heterometrus genus, i always thought that h.spinifer was the most popular but lately i have been seeing them less and less.

I'm thinking we don't really get many spinifers here, I think the one you had a pic of(?) was Heterometrus petersii but was labeled "spinifer", I have some pertersii and I kind of like those. Maybe that wasn't you that had that scorp.

 

[snappleWhiteTea]

I'm thinking we don't really get many spinifers here, I think the one you had a pic of(?) was Heterometrus petersii but was labeled "spinifer", I have some pertersii and I kind of like those. Maybe that wasn't you that had that scorp.

I haven't had any Heterometrus sp.

 

[Galapoheros]

I know who I was thinking about now, it was Aztec(sp?)

 

[Michiel]

Hey Michiel, this may be info I've been looking for off and on for a while now! The male was bigger and had "much" bigger chela than the female. Is this typical of longimanus? I hope so because longimanus is what I wanted when I bought the pair, thanks for the info.

Hi Galapoheros,

What do you think "longimanus" means? A: long hands litterally, meaning the elongated chela (= manus and fingers) that these males have

Cheers, Michiel

 

[Galapoheros]

lol, obviously, but the females are called "longimanus" also. Nice to finally hear the info about the dimorphism. With the ones I have, the males chela are a little longer but mostly just relatively bigger. I don't know where the ones I have came from exactly.

 

[Michiel]

lol, obviously, but the females are called "longimanus" also. Nice to finally hear the info about the dimorphism. With the ones I have, the males chela are a little longer but mostly just relatively bigger. I don't know where the ones I have came from exactly.

LOL, after I responded I thought of this in the evening, and I was thinking, he IS going to say that about the females also called longimanus. Glad that you did, finally someone who is actually thinking.
But, the holotype is probably a male, so the epithet longimanus would attribute to a male, in that case, and if my assumption is right. The difference however, is not a bit, but obvious, males have obvious elongated chela and fingers. So that could mean that you have a different species in your care.
For Pandinus/ Heterometrus lovers, it could be very helpful to order Frantisek Kovariks' book. Almost all species are illustrated with digital images of both sexes. Great book.

Cheers, Michiel