What kind of scorpion is this? Rhopalurus??

nikky · Jan 27, 2014

Hello I am new to this forum and I need help figuring out what scorpion this is. I would be extremely grateful if someone could help me. I found this little guy in Azua, Dominican Republic near my house. It is an arid/dry climate. I was wondering if this scorpion would be safe to keep as a pet. Thanks in advance!

ShredderEmp · Jan 27, 2014

Looks to be Rhopalurus bonetti. Does it make a hissing sort of sound when you disturb it? If so, then it is definatly R. bonetti. It would be a great pet. A rare one at that!

nikky · Jan 27, 2014

Thanks! I haven't heard any hissing but I'll pay more attention from now on. I'm keeping it in similar conditions i found it in, i'm guessing that's okay. Sand and rocks from where it was basking and an artificial tree stump as a hide. I added a plastic dish with some water. The temperature should be fine I think because I found it by my house and its just hot all over here. I wasn't sure whether I should feed it or let it settle in for the first two days, any thoughts on that? This has been great help, any more info on Rhopalurus is welcome and of course I'll do my research.
Thanks again!

ShredderEmp · Jan 27, 2014

Let it settle in for a couple days and then try giving it a cricket or a roach or something. Make sure the humidity matches the humidity outside so it doesn't get mycosis. I'm not sure whether this is a semi-arid bark scorpion or not so just be careful with that.

Olsin · Jan 27, 2014

Judging by those pictures and your location i'd say that your scorp is in fact Rhopalurus abudi.
The chela colouration is wrong for it to be R. princeps as their chelae are much darker with basically no blending, even at lower instars.....and as for R. bonetti, their chelae and carapace design are much different to what we see in these pictures. Here we see short stumpy or standard chela and a bland carapace while bonetti has elongated thin almost curved spear shaped chela and a distinct carapace design...

ShredderEmp · Jan 27, 2014

https://www.google.com/search?espv=...vebidoo.com%2Frolando%2Bburgess;850;610-Seems pretty similar though. I will admit that the prosoma doesn't match up with these pictures. Do you have a picture of Rhopalurus abudi?

Olsin · Jan 27, 2014

Agreed, the overall form of the pedipals on the specimen from that link do resemble slightly the pedipals we see on the pics here although, (and i don't know if it makes much difference in this case) that link shows a male and the pics here clearly shows a female......however, as you pointed out, the carapace design of bonetti and what we see here are in no way a match..
I don't have any pics of abudi but i can remember seeing some a few years ago and come away with the impression that they looked superficially similar to lati and crassicauda.....You could always google and check around yourself but in my mind it's pretty clear cut if we accept there's only 3 species of Rhopalurus that are endemic to the Dominican Republic...It's not princeps, it's not bonetti...most likely abudi then....

ShredderEmp · Jan 27, 2014

I didn't even know Rhopalurus abudi was a species. That's why I said R. bonetti. I agree that it is definitely not R. princeps though.

Edit: This is the only photo of R. abudi I can find: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?158566-Rhopalurus-Abudi-pictures&highlight=abudi

Edit 2: Found this: http://research.amnh.org/users/lorenzo/PDF/Prendini.2009.JOA.Rabudi.pdf

Tongue Flicker · Jan 27, 2014

Hey nikky didn't knew that you posted here too lol.. see someone else thinks its either a bonetti or an abudi

Olsin · Jan 28, 2014

ShredderEmp said:
I didn't even know Rhopalurus abudi was a species. That's why I said R. bonetti.

I don't understand the logic behind that...A quick look on Google would have shown you it's not bonetti, so why offer that as a possibility.....especially when bonetti and abudi have distinct differences..

Tongue Flicker said:
see someone else thinks its either a bonetti or an abudi

It's not bonetti.......

ShredderEmp · Jan 28, 2014

Olsin said:
I don't understand the logic behind that...A quick look on Google would have shown you it's not bonetti, so why offer that as a possibility.....especially when bonetti and abudi have distinct differences.

Well I didn't find those pages until after I learned of Rhopalurus abudi. I noticed the differences between the two after taking a second and closer look.

Tongue Flicker · Jan 28, 2014

Olsin said:
I don't understand the logic behind that...A quick look on Google would have shown you it's not bonetti, so why offer that as a possibility.....especially when bonetti and abudi have distinct differences..

It's not bonetti.......

Figured that much that's why i offered the abudi option as well

nikky · Jan 28, 2014

I thought it might be good to get as many opinions as possible from different sources. Everyone's been so helpful

Thanks for your posts everyone, I'll be reading the article to learn more about R. Abudi. This has been great, I hope my new found scorpion has a nice lifespan ahead of her. she got used to her enclosure fairly quick and started eating as well. She tends to get inside her water dish once or twice a day, does this mean she feels too hot? I checked temp and compared it to outside and its pretty much the same give or take 2 degrees varying between 80 degrees F during the day and 74 during the night.
Again, thanks to everyone it's been gr8.

Tongue Flicker · Jan 28, 2014

Just noticed that the pic here looks better than the one you posted in SF. In the former photo it looks more dusty/white than it is here now, colors all clear and much livelier

nikky · Jan 28, 2014

Hmm I hadn't noticed that until you mentioned it, I think they're the same pictures. Maybe because I reduced the quality on SF so the picture wouldnt be huge. I took this one yesterday, you see a little more of the same but its much clearer. I used flash, is that bad for them? If so I won't use it again.

ShredderEmp · Jan 28, 2014

Really nice! Can you take a side shot of the chela? That would 100% settle an doubts of what it is.

Olsin · Jan 29, 2014

ShredderEmp said:
Really nice! Can you take a side shot of the chela? That would 100% settle an doubts of what it is.

Not really, that will only confirm it's a female if the standard Rhopalurus dimorphism is applicable to this species......and no amount of pictures is going to change it's carapace design...the expression, "flogging a dead horse" comes to mind...

ShredderEmp · Jan 29, 2014

In the second link I posted there were side shots of the chela of a Rhopalurus princeps, R. abudi, and R. bonetti. They were all different.

Michiel · Feb 2, 2014

It is a male R.abudi (take a look at Prendini 2009, A redescription of Rhopalurus abudi etc etc fig 2 A and B....Take a look at the manus (hand) of the chela, it is incrassate...females would have a thinner manus..
I have bred R.bonettii (double -i) and R.princeps and these look totally different. There are no other Rhopalurus reported (yet) from the DR. See also Yamaguti 2011 (phylogenetic analyses and biogeographical distribution of Rhopalurus etc etc) for more info on the genus.

identying scorpions by googling has it's limitations ( extreme understatement and putting it nicely)

To answer your question, OP, yes you can safely keep this scorpions as a pet, as long as you keep it in an escapeproof enclosure...Although a sting would be painfull and would cause local effects, you need to be cautious with any scorpion you keep, even morderately venomous members of the Buthidae family.
Give it a bottle cap of water every two weeks. Although these species live in arid areas, they like to drink water every know and then.

2nscorpx · Feb 3, 2014

Thanks for that info, Michiel. Especially about reinforcing caution with scorpions.

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