san diego county scorpion I.D.

[neubii18]

i just caught these last night.one deffinately looks gravid.they are a pretty cool looking species.VERY aggressive.i found one in a burrow,but she is so fat,she couldn't get back into her burrow fast enough,and the other one is smaller,but still looks female.i found her under a rock.so,any ideas?i am about 30 minutes away from the city of san diego,in oceanside.thanks in advance!

the fat one

the skinny one

 

[spinningspider]

thinkin' P. boreus?

 

[neubii18]

that looks about right.anyone else have oppinions?

 

[Nomadinexile]

I don't think it's P. boreus. I don't think their range extends to coastal SoCal.

 

[neubii18]

it looks to be something in the parouroctonus genus though,yea?

 

[H. laoticus]

wild guess, U. mordax?

 

[neubii18]

no.u.mordax is bulkier generally.and they are a northern california scorpion i believe.

 

[cacoseraph]

parauroctonus should be right

maybe silvestrii?


should be stupid easy to take care of, whatever it is if you are lucky you might get some babies


p.s. i can NOT find any of the burrowing scorps to do a youtube of... sheesh.

 

[Nomadinexile]

This is from Kari J. Mcwest's excellent site at link below... If you want to learn about American species, this is a great place to start.

http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/scorpiones/paruroctonus.html

The genus Paruroctonus is the largest in North America north of Mexico. Unfortunately, most species are indistinguishable from one another except when examined under magnification. Generally, all members of the genus have a series of long hairs on the dorsal surfaces of the feet (bristlecombs) which are more highly developed in psammophilous (sand-dwelling) species and all species lack dorsal spines on the segments of the metasoma (tail). In most cases, the hands of the pedipalps are robust. The vast majority of Paruroctonus species lack pigment and appear pale yellow.
They also all (both genera) lack spines on the metasoma segments.
The genus Smeringurus was a subgenus of Paruroctonus described by Richard Haradon in 1983. It was later raised to a genus by Scott Stockwell in 1992. The species are large (in excess of 80 mm) and only one species is a sand dweller (see below).

 

[neubii18]

parauroctonus should be right

maybe silvestrii?


should be stupid easy to take care of, whatever it is if you are lucky you might get some babies


p.s. i can NOT find any of the burrowing scorps to do a youtube of... sheesh.

just come over here in oceanside!i saw alot.i only saw these 2 of these species,but i found alot of larger,bulkier clawed burrowers down here.they are just REALLY hard to get out of there burrows.nomad said to take a shovel and put it in behind them.i was trying to do that with tongs as i did not have a shovel.but cacoseroph,if you wanna come down and find some here let me know.i'd be happy to show you where i found them.i found a spot where there are atleast 15 in about 10 square feet.they just sit in front of there burrows and shoot back in when you try to grab them.i really want to get some.i'll be going back soon.the spot is about 5 minutes from my house,which is suprising to me.anyways,pm me if you're intrested.and you too ryan,if you are ever down here,i'd happily show you where.you're the couple of people i would tell.

 

[neubii18]

@cacoseraph:i was thinking p.silvestrii too.but who knows!lol.

 

[Nomadinexile]

@cacoseraph:i was thinking p.silvestrii too.but who knows!lol.

that seems to be the best guess right now...

 

[cacoseraph]

well, i call all the scorps that look like that silvestrii so don't take my vote too seriously =P




@asn, that is awesome dude! those are the burrowers i am talking about, almost certainly. good job and finding them for yourself!

we might have to do a scabies hike over in your area and check them out.


they can be dug out... but their burrows are like a foot long sometimes and i have killed at least one digging for it, so it can be tricky. you might be able to luck out and pop a rock up that has a burrow underneath it. the very first one of these, Anuroctonus species, that i found was under a huge rock. i was super scared it was all venomous and stuff, too (they aren't) =P

 

[neubii18]

you definately need to go at night.i went during the day when i found their burrows and their weren't any.then i went at night and they were everywhere,but they dont come out of their burrows.i really want to catch some of the other species.they were way cooler looking.though,this species,waht ever it is,is pretty sweet.i prodded i gently with a BIC pen and it grabbed on with both palps,and started stinging away.it had to of stung the pen at least 20 times in about 10 seconds.i automatically knew that this wasnt a species to handle like i do with my p.imps and c.vittatus.lol!

 

[cacoseraph]

i mean, you *can* play with them. they will just sting you a good % of the time

but... i am now sensitized to pretty much all local species venoms. i only used to be able to feel a few Vaejovid stings... the rest were just mechanical damage as far as i was concerned... but now *all* scorpions actually hurt me to the point i try to avoid them.

but... that took literally a couple few hundred stings... so it's probably not an immediate concern for anyone but should maybe be something to think about

 

[neubii18]

yea,i have yet to be stung by anything other than my c.vittatus.and i dont need to be stung by another.i mean,its gonna happen,but i will do my best to not let it happen.