Measurements...

[SpaceHawk]

I measured the largest female Bicolor I have tonight. I thought she was pretty close to being full grown, but she is 6 1/2 cm. I was told they max out around 8 to 9 cm (3 1/2 in.), so she still has a little growing to do I guess. What is average for adult males of this species? My male is a little over 5 cm. right now. Since I have got these scorps they all have really bulked up and all are looking like they are ready for a moult soon, except the male, which means he probably had one before I got him I think.


What measurements do you guys have of your adult males, or what measurements have you have heard of?

 

[Kugellager]

The average for this species varies greatly from locale of origin and environmental conditions. Mature adults of this species can vary greatly in size but yours sound close to the average or the lower end of average.

John
];')

 

[SpaceHawk]

How many sub-species are there of A. Bicolor or do taxonomists only list them as one species and the rest are just based on where they were collected? I know of 2 races (Eric's and mine, but thats all I have heard of), but to as where the different races come from I don't know, do you?

 

[skinheaddave]

I believe the term you are looking for is "taxonomist," not "taxidermist." Now, backing up to your first post, you have to consider that the majority of WC scorpions, particularily Buthidae, are mature. The one exception for this, at least in these parts, seems to be L.quinquestriatus which almost always seem to come in one moult shy of maturity ... I have no idea why. Don't be too confident in supposed adult size. As has already been stated, there is some variation. Also, do not be fooled by obesity in a desert dwelling species. Obese females may even been mature and gravid (due to their long gestation periods, almost all WC mature female specimens are going to be gravid). It is fairly easy to tell when males are mature in most species, since they undergo a relatively large change with their last moult, but with females you are not going to have such an easy time.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[SpaceHawk]

I believe the term you are looking for is "taxonomist," not "taxidermist."


I meant to type "taxonomist", you know what I meant. But as to being confident on adult sizes, I am not, which is why I posted this question,what I have heard about adult sizes have varied greatly, being from 3 to 4 inch. Just wondering what males are usually, since they do end up being smaller in a lot of species. I know he is a male, so I don't need to wait for him to moult again to see how much he changes in able to sex him, I wasn't sure about the others, but I know now that they are females. I think the 2 larger females I have may be gravid, but you never know. They are getting pretty fat. If they moult soon, then great if not, then even better.

 

[Ythier]

Hi SpaceHawk,
As you asked me on pm, here are pics of bicolor's pectines (same magnification for the two pics).
Greetings,
Eric
[Edit : It's A.bicolor bicolor, not A.b.aeneas, sorry for the mistake]

 

[Steven]

Ok i'm confused now :?

if i can count correctly i see 21 on the female's pectine and 24 on the male pectine,...
while i just read on this site
"Pour le mâle : 27 à 32"
"Pour la femelle : 20 à 27"

How to tell if it's a male then ? :?
(or is counting pectines not reliable ?)



(or have i gone blind from watching to much ..... )

 

[Ythier]

Hi Steven,
First : I made a mistake on the legend of photos : it's not A.b.aeneas, but A.b.bicolor, sorry.
I counted also 21 for the female, but there are exactly 26 for the male (some teeths are broken or not visible on the pic). Patrick wrote the number of teeths for A.b.aeneas (North Africa) on this web site, mine (A.b.bicolor) comes from Israel and number of teeths are : female 19-24 / male 23-29 (from Levy & Amitai 1980).
Greetings,
Eric

 

[Steven]

Hi Steven,
First : I made a mistake on the legend of photos : it's not A.b.aeneas, but A.b.bicolor, sorry.
I counted also 21 for the female, but there are exactly 26 for the male (some teeths are broken or not visible on the pic). Patrick wrote the number of teeths for A.b.aeneas (North Africa) on this web site, mine (A.b.bicolor) comes from Israel and number of teeths are : female 19-24 / male 23-29 (from Levy & Amitai 1980).
Greetings,
Eric

Ok thanx for clearing that one out :worship:

couldn't sleep while i was at work thinking about it

 

[SpaceHawk]

You rock Eric...I know for certain that I have 1 male and 9 females and few little ones that I can't tell on yet....thanks for the pics. You know that people are going to ask in the future about these guys and sexing, so we should save this somehow (sticky)..

 

[G. Carnell]

9 females!? what the hell?

thats alot of work for that male, with his hareem of females,
jesus! are they all gravid?

 

[SpaceHawk]

Only a couple are gravid...but I need more males for sure! Nobody has males right now that I know of. Glades Herp said I bought the rest of his big ones, and the rest are small, and he won't go through all of them to look for a male..
So I am waiting for a new shipment from someone so I can see if they have some then....adults too.

Its okay to cycle through the females with the one male..but I worry he'll get eaten one of these days.