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Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures but they are good enough to demonstrate the point. There is very little on the internet regarding sexing these so I though I would post for all those who may have recently bought one or two... or 4 in my case!
The female (top) is somewhat larger and more stocky than the male. (About 3mm bigger length wise)
Her markings are also a lot stronger when compared to the males. especially the sporadic markings along the tail, peds and on each of the legs. This can be clearly seen on the legs and peds of the M & F in the picture, the males legs n peds are somewhat paler. The markings on the tail are down the sides so you cant make out the females tail markings from this picture.
The tail of the female is also quite thick giving her an almost buthid like appearance, only the telson remains small.
As for sexing by the pedipalps, it is possible to view this by naked eye but if you can put your specimens on a white sheet of paper they will be clear to see. If you look on the top of the pedipalp and you get a perfect teardrop section you undoubtably have a female. The male, from the naked eye has a right angle on the inside of the pedipalp just below the pincers. If you look at the zoomed in picture you will see the male at the bottom kindly displaying his right ped in the correct position to see the tubular node that gives the males ped its angular appearance
The females right hand pedipalp... also nicely shown off is perfectly curved.
Sometimes sexing by the pecteins can be a good indicator, but with these scorps being so small (max 30mm) both the Male and the Female pecteins are longer than the width of the body, on closer inspection the males do stick out more but without having a female to comapre with this method of sexing could give inaccurate results
Hope this is of help to anyone who has recently bought this sp.
Lisa xx
Female @ the top
Close up of pedipalps
The female (top) is somewhat larger and more stocky than the male. (About 3mm bigger length wise)
Her markings are also a lot stronger when compared to the males. especially the sporadic markings along the tail, peds and on each of the legs. This can be clearly seen on the legs and peds of the M & F in the picture, the males legs n peds are somewhat paler. The markings on the tail are down the sides so you cant make out the females tail markings from this picture.
The tail of the female is also quite thick giving her an almost buthid like appearance, only the telson remains small.
As for sexing by the pedipalps, it is possible to view this by naked eye but if you can put your specimens on a white sheet of paper they will be clear to see. If you look on the top of the pedipalp and you get a perfect teardrop section you undoubtably have a female. The male, from the naked eye has a right angle on the inside of the pedipalp just below the pincers. If you look at the zoomed in picture you will see the male at the bottom kindly displaying his right ped in the correct position to see the tubular node that gives the males ped its angular appearance
The females right hand pedipalp... also nicely shown off is perfectly curved.
Sometimes sexing by the pecteins can be a good indicator, but with these scorps being so small (max 30mm) both the Male and the Female pecteins are longer than the width of the body, on closer inspection the males do stick out more but without having a female to comapre with this method of sexing could give inaccurate results
Hope this is of help to anyone who has recently bought this sp.
Lisa xx
Female @ the top
Close up of pedipalps
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