SEXING H. Longimanus!

[EminenceTuts]

Here is a picture of my H. Longimanus, His/Her name is Pinchy Nigel. I tried to give him/her a unisex name. Haha. Well Let me know if you guys know if he is a she or if she is a he...



Here are a few other pics of his/her habitat. Maybe you can help me determine age as well, Idk how old he/she is. He/She has never molted in my care and I have had him/her for maybe about 5 months. I keep the humidity at around 80% and temperature at 75-80F.

Substrate is Eco Earth that is damp at about 4inch depth.

 

[Longimanus]

Apologies, I hope you don't mind me saying so.... but that the granulated ridges on the manus of the chela rules out H. longimanus, H. spinifer, and H. petersii.

Based on your pictures, I really can't be absolutely certain, but after a quick reference to Kovarik's 2004 reveiew of the genus, H. nepalensis seems really close to what you got.

Nonetheless, Heterometrus is a really large group of scorpions distributed over a large expanse of the South-eastern portion of the Asian continent and can get quite messy between the currently established species.

In anycase, H longimanus are easily sexed by a prominent sexual dimorphism of the pedipalps and do not really require ventral inspection to determine the sex.

Cheers and best regards

 

[Galapoheros]

It does kind of look like napalensis but I think it's a Pandinus imperator, an emperor scorp. I think napalensis would be a rare thing to show up here in the US but I don't know that for sure.

 

[Longimanus]

It does kind of look like napalensis but I think it's a Pandinus imperator, an emperor scorp. I think napalensis would be a rare thing to show up here in the US but I don't know that for sure.

Yep... could be an Emperor too... I was just curious what made him think it was H. longimanus.

 

[EminenceTuts]

Apologies, I hope you don't mind me saying so.... but that the granulated ridges on the manus of the chela rules out H. longimanus, H. spinifer, and H. petersii.

Based on your pictures, I really can't be absolutely certain, but after a quick reference to Kovarik's 2004 reveiew of the genus, H. nepalensis seems really close to what you got.

Nonetheless, Heterometrus is a really large group of scorpions distributed over a large expanse of the South-eastern portion of the Asian continent and can get quite messy between the currently established species.

In anycase, H longimanus are easily sexed by a prominent sexual dimorphism of the pedipalps and do not really require ventral inspection to determine the sex.

Cheers and best regards

No need to apologize. This is what I signed up for. I had no pride in what evidence I provided because I had no knowledge of it.

Well hm, would there be anything I can provide so that it could be easily identified?

I was interested in getting another... Whatever he/she is. So I could start a community. Given it is only a 10 gallon, I can see myself upgrading in the future.

But also I am not so familiar with anatomy of scorpions, nor species. But I tried to understand the best I could and gathered as much information from your post.

Thanks,
EminenceTuts

EDIT*
I heard Emps are docile. This guy stings and pinches anything that moves slightly. I was told it was an H. Longimanus from my friend, who is less than a scorpion expert.

 

[Galapoheros]

Just start typing around using google or some other search engine and you will find a lot of pics and info. There are often inaccurate ID pics with Heterometrus but most Pandinus imperator(emps) pics on the internet are of actually of Pandinus imperator since it's readily available here in the US anyway.

 

[EminenceTuts]

Well thats what I was doing until I found the arachnoboards. I felt like I didnt know enough information to be guessing on pictures and finding information that could be false. But if you suggest thats the best thing then I will keep on searching. I will definitely flip through alot of the threads on here and see what I can find, but if anyone can help my search that'd be great. But I greatly appreciate the information that was shared.

 

[Galapoheros]

It's a Pandinus imperator, aka emperor scorpion, did you get it from a pet store? It's that it sounds strange that it wasn't ID'd from the source you acquired it from.

 

[Collin Clary]

Pandinus imperator. Looks male.

 

[Michiel]

100% no Heterometrus, but a P.imperator. Seems like a male to me too. I already wondered, if there is one Heterometrus easy to sex, it is H.longimanus

 

[EminenceTuts]

It's a Pandinus imperator, aka emperor scorpion, did you get it from a pet store? It's that it sounds strange that it wasn't ID'd from the source you acquired it from.

No my friend gave me it a while back. He was for certain it was H. Longimanus... I trusted him because he has a whole bunch of critters in his house.

But if you guys are saying it P. Imporater then I guess it is certain. Yet, how are you guys so certain? I am asking because I would like to learn.

Thanks for the information you guys!

 

[Collin Clary]

P. imperator has bumpy chela (claws) while H. longimanus has smooth chela.

 

[EminenceTuts]

Well. Can he be anything other than a P. Imperator? Because I went to a pet store that had them to mentally compare. They didn't look exactly alike, plus their attitudes were way different.The pet store lady picked them up like nothing.

But when I barely open my tank and he automatically goes into attack mode.

Maybe he is just a pissed off P. Imperator?

 

[Collin Clary]

In my experience male emps seem to be more defensive than females. Some scorps are very docile and some are not. Your scorp is 100% Pandinus imperator. The ones at the pet store may have looked slightly different because they are younger. Has your scorp started a burrow? If not then start a scrape under the piece of bark. Also your scorpion will not molt because he is an adult. [You can tell because his telson (stinger) is red, not yellow] I also suggest that you buy the book "Scorpions a complete pet owners manual" by Manny Rubio.

 

[EminenceTuts]

In my experience male emps seem to be more defensive than females. Some scorps are very docile and some are not. Your scorp is 100% Pandinus imperator. They may have looked slightly different they younger. Also your scorp may calm down after a couple weeks.

Mmm. Ok thanks for the info! Do you know what would happen if I threw another Emp in there? Would he calm down?

Also How do you know its Emp for sure?(just for the future knowledge) And how do you determine sex?

Thanks alot for the info!!!

 

[Collin Clary]

I hope you got my PMs. Here is a link for you:http://home.mindspring.com/~drrod1/

 

[Xanthopus]

One way for certain to distinguish P. Imps is their large, bulky and bumpy claws. Heterometrus longimanus also have large claws. But the males claws are smooth. Google the two species up and the difference is easy to spot. Good luck .