Please help me ID my scorp

[innybee]

I'm not the most clued-up person about scorpions, although I know a little bit about them, as my bro has a couple emperors.

We've had this scorpion a little over a week now, and it seems quite content: eats regularly, quite placid and getting surprisingly fat.
We are in the process of building a nice vivarium for it, so for time being it lives in an open plastic container, which I admit creeps me out some nights.
They can't climb plastic though, right?

I don't know how to id or sex it, so many species look alike, or members of the same species look different. Different lighting in pics make them look different too.
It was caught under a rock in the Magalies Mountains in South Africa, so hot and sunny, dry, sandy, bush veld habitat. It's sandy/pale yellow-orange and grey-brown coloured, with a darker grey body. It has a fattish tail, so we are quite careful with it. It's quite small, I haven't measured it, but I guess 2 cm without its tail. (I'm attaching some photo's as well.)

If anyone can help me id and sex it I'd be most great full! Also, as I mentioned it seems to be getting quite fat: it's like its blowing up and the spaces between the tergates (hope thats the right term) have gone from nothing to huge. Its been a little off its food the last few days, although it ate last night.
It is going to molt? Do I need to keep it really wet when it does this, and how long does it take to "harden" again, or how long do I wait before I can feed it again?
I appreciate any info, thanks!
-i

 

[cacoseraph]

no idea

i would treat it as deadly dangerous until i found out what species it is.

 

[Michiel]

2 things come up:

1. A hottentotta species, but the the metasomal segments are not typcially Hottentotta (short and stocky). It might be a juvenile (and in then it is fat because it needs to molt, yes).
2. An Uroplectus species, probably a male, based on the size of the chela.

My best guess is no 2 option. Keep it like you described the habitat and spray in one corner once per two weeks/ a month. You can feed it a nice cricket once a week.

try emailing the pic to the website of Jonathan Leeming an expert on SA scorpions, check out his website Scorpions of Southern Africa.

 

[Skywalker]

Should be an Uroplectes species. But as Michiel already said, your best bet is to send the pics to Jonathan Leeming.

 

[Andre2]

Looks like Uroplectes planimanus. I think a female (they have a more bulbous manus of the pedipalp too..) Judging on the size you give I think it will molt 1 more time and grow to 6cm (total lenghth).

Surely this scorpion can give you a painfull sting, but can not be considered really dangerous.

You must not keep it wet! Even when it is going to molt. It takes about 6-9 days before they eat again after a molt. You must only wet a small corner of your container, but mostly the scorpion will prefer to sit in the dry area of the container. I have about a dozen specimen U. planimanus, grows and breeds well in captivity. But I am not 100% sure your species is the same.

 

[innybee]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm pretty sure it's a Uroplectes sp. though I'm not certain which. I've been scouring the net, but some of the info is labelled wrong ect, like one site claiming a scorp to be planimanus, and another with the same photo claiming something else.
I found a picture that looks spot on to me, labeled Uroplectes carinatus, but other photos of the species have redder colouring or even different shape! The same problem with photos of planimanus.:?
I'll let you know what JL says when he replies.

Thanks for all the advice though, I'm keeping him drier now. He's starting to dig a burrow as well.
-i

 

[Andre2]

From the collage of U. carinatus, only the top-left picture is (in my opinion) U. carinatus. It is much smaller species, like 40-45mm total length maximum..
Is this the photo you refer to, that resembles your sp.?

Don't be fooled by the colours....This is only a matter of light or editing..

 

[innybee]

No my scorpion looks more like the one on the bottom right. Thanks so much for the photos.

I don't think its U.carinatus, it doesn't have any black linings, and the colouring is a grey body with more orange limbs. Do you have pics of your U. planimanus for a comparison?
Thanks
-i

 

[Ice Cold Milk]

I'm sure it's Uroplectes....
Quite possibly U. variegatus.

ICM

 

[Ice Cold Milk]

oh and good luck contacting Jonathan Leeming,...lol he hardly ever responds to my emails or other people's!!

 

[Andre2]

U variegates..? That would be strange, because what was it doing in the area where he caught it?
Your specimen seems to have a slightly more darker coloured manus of the pedipalp, which is not present in the U. planimanus that I have seen. Also it seems that the tergites have more granulation.
I'm really interested in what you have there. Uroplectes is my favourite genus!
Please make some more clear pictures of your specimen. And would it be possible to send some to my email? I will try to find out more.

In the meantime, here's some planimanus from my own collection
pic1;subadult female, pic2;fresh matured male, pic3; female with some youngs.

 

[Michiel]

Hi

In the first collage, the bottom left species looks like U.otjimbinguensis to me, but I am no expert on these.
oh and good luck contacting Jonathan Leeming,...lol he hardly ever responds to my emails or other people's!!
Ahaaaaaaa

 

[Skywalker]

If you take other pics of the scorpion please post them here or send me an email too. I would also like to see them.
Btw, the specimen in the top right pic in the first collage is a Parabuthus spp.

 

[innybee]

Hey guys, i'll be posting new photos soon! Been busy and i now have 2 geckos and a skink to id too.
The scorp never molted, i guess he just ate a bit much...in fact, he eats quite a lot. We're breeding crickets now and he eats fully matured ones about the same size as himself!
No closer to sussing what species he is but i'll get some more pics soon

-i

 

[Andre2]

It could be that the photograph you put in your collage of U. carinatus (I mean the one which you thought looks identical to your species..), is the subspecies U. carinatus mediostriatus, which seems to lack the dark markings from what I read from the description I have. However, I do not know where this particular subspecies occurs in your country... Also when you compare this pic with one of your specimen, you notice the difference in the bulb of the pedipalp-manus. This bulb is characteristic in U. planimanus females. Males of U. planimanus have a big manus, but this is more compressed and "higher". These characteristics do not show in subadults, as you can see on the pictures I posted earlier.

Males of Uroplectes spp. generally have elongated metasomal segments (compared to the female). This is not present in your specimen, which tells me it is either a female or an unusually large subadult of the largest Uroplectes sp. in your area. Especially when you describe feeding it adult crickets then I can only assume it is an adult female planimanus, and I can only assume you feed banded crickets or a smaller, native species..

Males of Uroplectes spp. are mostly much smaller and thinner and do not eat the quantities of food you describe, even when they have just molted.

If you post a picture of the well fed scorpion I can see if it is a subadult or adult. It is quite easy to judge for yourself when you look at the proportions of metasoma-length("tail") vs. mesosoma-length("body"). When you look at the pic I posted of the U. planimanus subadult, you can clearly see how the metasoma appears much shorter in comparison to it's mesosoma. In adults (even fat, gravid females) this difference in proportions is much less visible...

 

[innybee]

Oh my guudness!!!!
I took some photos from different dates to compare them. I tried to get the sizes equal by trying to match the sizes of the bulbs of the pedipalp-manus and the carapaces. I'm not sure how much I succeeded, but either way, it looks like Grim boomed! I wouldn't have thought it possible to grow that much without molting. She (decided sex for now) can't overeat that extremely that she explodes, right?
The body shape in the first photo looks like a male form to me, but turns into a female shape by the most recent photo.
Yes, I feed her banded crickets, now fully mature, they are about the same size as her. Grim was recently fed, (about a day ago or so) in the last photo. If she eats tonight I'll take a photo later or tomorrow morning.
I have more photos, decent size and detail, that I'll send to you guys, just send me your email addresses

-i