Central American yellow Centruroides

[Botar]

Same as the "black" thread. Looking for a species name.

Botar

[Botar]

Picture #2.

Botar

[Kugellager]

The pics look like they are a pale colormorph of C.margaritatas.

Interesting variation.

How large are they...maybe light coloration is due to them being sub-adults?

John
];')

[Botar]

I've got 10 total and they vary in size from 2.5" to 3"+. This one was probably around 3".

Botar

[skinheaddave]

Potentially C.bicolor, C.margaritatus (as John said) or maybe a couple more. I would need a specimen, or at least a moult, to ID them for "sure."

Cheers,
Dave

[Kugellager]

C.bicolor came to mind for me too but the only pics I have seen was that very brightly colored specimin from Costa Rica...though the color pattern is similar.

John
];')

[Frank]

Aren't C. bicolor's last two caudal segments black? On Botar's pics, only the last segment is black.

Frank

[skinheaddave]

Frank,

The problem in IDing at this point is knowing the variation. We have all seen the same pics of the the same C. species, but many species show a great deal of polymorphism. I also know that many Centruroides sp. show a degree of change with each moult. Thus, going by colour alone is very sketchy.

Cheers,
Dave

[skinheaddave]

Charles,

Is it possible for you to get pectine counts off of either of the species? I made myself a chart of pectine counts for about 3/4 of the known Centruroides sp. at one point and I could definitely narrow it down.

Cheers,
Dave

[XOskeletonRED]

Originally posted by Frank
Aren't C. bicolor's last two caudal segments black? On Botar's pics, only the last segment is black.

Frank

Frank, the photo you are referring to shows the terminal three segments to be black, plus telson (#3 segment gaining a slightly lighter coloration at the start of the segment and on the inside, due to the contrasting yellow segment #2, though it may not actually appear this way in reality). The initializing two segments are the only ones solidly yellow on the often seen pic of C. bicolor. Most of the pics are going to be more brilliantly colored than the actual specimen, though more commonly, if a segment is as darkened as the pic shows, it is often a darker coloration than the remaining segments of the cauda, as seen with P. leiosoma's photographs (P. leiosoma's segments, while not jet black are very obviously much darker than the remainder of the cauda, though pics can often make the segments to appear black).
At any rate, I doubt the specimen would prove to be C. bicolor, due to the extremity of darkened coloration at the 3 terminal caudal segments and telson. Color morphs like this, though they occur, are not that likely. I believe it will most likely turn out to be C. margaritatus from one of the lowest humidity or highest temp locations they are native to. I'd have to guess ssp. will turn out to be margaritatus as well, due to strick exportation of Cuba (C. margaritatus morenoi being native to Cuba). At any rate, 46 species and 22 ssp is a lot of scorpions for me to be guessing through, considering the lack of available pics. Anywho, it sure is fun, isn't it? *lol* I need more information on the genus...all of it.

adios,
edw.

[Botar]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
Charles,

Is it possible for you to get pectine counts off of either of the species? I made myself a chart of pectine counts for about 3/4 of the known Centruroides sp. at one point and I could definitely narrow it down.

Cheers,
Dave

This is where I play "dumb dealer"... but I'm not playing. As opposed to me doing that, I'll let Kug do it. I've never claimed to know much about scorps and the only reason I ordered these is I've got a couple of scorp-freak friends like Kug. I'm sending a bunch of them to him on Monday.

Kug- If you don't mind, can you ID and respond here after you get them?

Botar

[Kugellager]

I shall do all I can to whet the apetites of all who are interested...and hopefully ID them correctly.

...and take some cool pics too,

I'm thinking I might try using my black widow photo rig to get pics of their underside. They sound like they are the perfect size to try this.

John
];')