plea for a little more info....st lucian scorps

[animaljosh]

Hello again,

I am patiently trying to navigate the www on this amazingly slow connection here in st lucia looking for info to ID some specimens (the count is up to 3! one more found in the bedroom night before last). The taxonomy is a rather complicated issue, and coupled with my inability to browse efficiently I am coming up empty handed. Anyone got pics and more info on BU Tityus insignis & SCN Didymocentrus lesueurii????? I sure would appreciate any and all..... And can you give a really bad photographer some tips on shooting in macro so I can snap a few shots for you all to help ID?

 

[skinheaddave]

Here is a very brief key to the three species supposedly found on your island:

1a: sternum roughly triangular ... 2
1b: sternum not roughly triangular (subpentagonal or similar, I'm thinking) ... Didymocentrus lesueurii.
2a: tibial spurs present on legs III and IV ... Tityus insignis
2b: tibial spurs not present ... Isometrus maculatus

This is off the top of my head ... so I may have some amendments to make tomorrow. More simply, you should have lots of pictures of Isometrus maculatus, such as this one from the scorpion files: http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/i_maculatus(m)2.jpg and will know it to be a relatively slender, mottled creature. The Didymocentrus is going to be a small beast with relatively chunky chela. The Tityus I don't know -- some are mottled like the Isometrus, but it may look completely different than the other two. Regardless, the presence or absence of spurs will tell them apart easily.

As for photography, make sure your camera is in macro mode. Then, ensure that you have a lot of light on the subject -- direct sunlight can be great for this. Lastly, ensure that your camera is well braced -- on a mini-tripod, sand bag or similar. That should be enough to get decent shots of the beasts -- obviously there is a lot more to getting truly stunning shots, but that can come later.

One last proviso. I imagine the scorpions on your island have not been realy closely studied, so the chances of a new species popping up are not that long. Depending on what you find, there may be some real homework in it for you.

Cheers,
Dave