Need help with species identification

[psykoink]

Just so its totally clear, I did not purchase this scorpion. I do not buy things I cant identify or isnt clearly labeled. With that, I was at my friend reptile shop last night and bought a bunch of supplies and feeders for my T's. I have a whole lot of T's and never owned a scorpion. Well my friend put all my supplies in a box and when I got home I found the deli container labeled Chilean Scorpion in the bottom under my bags of substrate. Well when I called him today to find out what this thing was and why it was in my supplies box all he said was "your welcome and enjoy". I dont know a single thing about scorpions except the obvious things such as potency and feeding. He hasnt been able to sell it so he figured I would enjoy it as a freebee. That being said, I am not looking to get rid of it, but I would like to know what species it is so I can get as much info on its care. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[BAM1082]

IDK what it is, but it looks wicked!
The patterns on the tail segments are neat.

Looks to be very potent. until an expert comes on w/ an ID, i'd say keep it on dry coco, mist one corner, give it a water dish, 2 hides. (one in the misted corner)

Cover all the bases, keep around 75-80.

 

[BAM1082]

http://eycb.pagesperso-orange.fr/scorpions/Images/Photos galerie/AmSud/Tityusstigmurus1.jpg
Tityus stigmurus ?

 

[Evilmorgan]

Hi,
It looks like Urophonius granulatus or possibly a Brachistosternus sp but IDing these chilie scorps is a nightmare

They love digging so keep it on deep substrate and fairly cool, high temps will kill them.

 

[skinheaddave]

It is fantastic that you posted a ventral shot for us to look at. I have attached a few images to my post. One is a crop of your image with the genital operticulum (g.o) highlighted in red and the sternum highlighted in green. Not the clearest shot, unfortunately (hard to get good shots through plastics) but you will see that there is almost no space between the g.o. and those two big plates (coxae of legs II). I have also attached two images of my own with the sternum very lightly highlighted in green.

The point here is that the sternum in your pic is a very thin slit and that the coxa of legs II sit very close to the g.o. This is unique to Bothriuridae as a family. My two pics are of Hadruroides charcasus (family Caraboctonidae) which has a subpentagonal sternum. You can see that it is fairly broad and roughly works out to a pentagon. The other is a Centruroides limbatus and you can see the sternum is what is called subtriangular. It is still technically a pentagon but is very narrow and the angle between the two edges that make up the "sides" is very large making for a very slight deviation. This arrangement is characteristic of Buthidae. If we ignore Hemiscorpius for a bit since it is unheard of in the hobby, all of the scorpions considered medically significant a.k.a. "hot" are Buthids. So a quick check of the sternum can give you a decent idea of whether or not that specimen might be on the hotter side. If, as BAM suggested, it was hot it would have a subtriangular sternum ... including if it were T.stigmurus.

Now, moving on. Ythier's site has a listing of species recognized from Chile. http://eycb.pagesperso-orange.fr/scorpions/ASChili.htm As you can see, all but a few are Bothriuridae. There are other features of the specimen that also suggest this family like chela bluntness, telson shape etc. It is a pretty fair guess that the specimen truly did come from Chile (imagine that, some truth in a slapped on common name .. bound to happen now and again ) and is a Bothriurid of some sort. It may be possible to narrow it down further but it will likely involve looking at some very fine features and is unlikely to get us past genus.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Michiel]

First thought was U.granulatus, but the scorpion in your pic is much bigger than that species. That seems to be a Brachistosternus species. These where imported into Germany a couple of years ago, a couple of those species.

Mayybe you can take a look at www.chilearacnidos.com to compare with their pics.

 

[BAM1082]

I love this site. Always lots of new things to learn
Sorry about posting a direct picture. Wont happen again.

BAM

 

[psykoink]

It is fantastic that you posted a ventral shot for us to look at. I have attached a few images to my post. One is a crop of your image with the genital operticulum (g.o) highlighted in red and the sternum highlighted in green. Not the clearest shot, unfortunately (hard to get good shots through plastics) but you will see that there is almost no space between the g.o. and those two big plates (coxae of legs II). I have also attached two images of my own with the sternum very lightly highlighted in green.

The point here is that the sternum in your pic is a very thin slit and that the coxa of legs II sit very close to the g.o. This is unique to Bothriuridae as a family. My two pics are of Hadruroides charcasus (family Caraboctonidae) which has a subpentagonal sternum. You can see that it is fairly broad and roughly works out to a pentagon. The other is a Centruroides limbatus and you can see the sternum is what is called subtriangular. It is still technically a pentagon but is very narrow and the angle between the two edges that make up the "sides" is very large making for a very slight deviation. This arrangement is characteristic of Buthidae. If we ignore Hemiscorpius for a bit since it is unheard of in the hobby, all of the scorpions considered medically significant a.k.a. "hot" are Buthids. So a quick check of the sternum can give you a decent idea of whether or not that specimen might be on the hotter side. If, as BAM suggested, it was hot it would have a subtriangular sternum ... including if it were T.stigmurus.

Now, moving on. Ythier's site has a listing of species recognized from Chile. http://eycb.pagesperso-orange.fr/scorpions/ASChili.htm As you can see, all but a few are Bothriuridae. There are other features of the specimen that also suggest this family like chela bluntness, telson shape etc. It is a pretty fair guess that the specimen truly did come from Chile (imagine that, some truth in a slapped on common name .. bound to happen now and again ) and is a Bothriurid of some sort. It may be possible to narrow it down further but it will likely involve looking at some very fine features and is unlikely to get us past genus.

Cheers,
Dave

Thanks to all that have replied. I have had it set up exactly the way you have all explained since I have had it. It seems to be doing well. It is extremely aggressive too. It looks a lot bigger in the pic then it actually is. Its body length is probably 3/4 - 1 inch. Its pinchers are very tiny. I am going to look through a bunch of pics, but a lot of them look the same from the top and not too many ventral shots have been found. I will try and get it into an acrylic cube and take better pics of it if that will help. Again to all that have tried to help me out with this, thanks!

 

[Michiel]

if it's that small, I'll stock to first thought