Lq (normal) vs. Lq hebraeus

How does one tell the difference between the Lq (normal) and the subspecies Lq hebraeus? Is it just the coloration? Or, are there some more definitive differences? Thanks.

The black segment on the tail. LQ has a solid coloration while LQH has a fading one.

Thanks Abyss. By "fading" do you mean it is darker on one end then the other, or is it just overall lighter than the normal dark Lq tail segment?

I mean the the black segment has a gradient were it fades back to yellow.

Hm, i'm not so sure about that Eddy.....Young of both LQ and LQH seem to have the same dark last caudal segment without any pronounced differences, whether colour or range.
Here's a freshly moulted 8i female LQH. As you can see there's not much fading going on there. I don't have a pic of a LQ and i'm not going to use anyone else's to demonstrate but i've had a quick blaff through google pics looking at LQ's and as far as i can see, there's no difference whatsoever.....The striking dark does fade though as the adult animal ages.....fading to a darkish brown/sepia/chocolate fudge colour with less definition. Perhaps you've seen a fresh adult LQ and compared it with older LQH!?

I've heard there's a size difference, with LQH's being slightly smaller........although the last time i had adult LQ's was years ago but from what i can remember i'm inclined to think that if there is a size difference, then it's quite minimal and probably nothing you could confidently use as an ID aid.

The clearest difference as far as i know is as you mentioned yourself.......a darker carapace and tergate plates

Thanks guys. I've looked here, Googled Lq vs. Lqh, and looked at pics online but it seems really hard to tell the difference. The pics I've seen online vary a lot for the Lqh. If the only difference is color, the Lqh would not seem to deserve to be a subspecies to me. More a color morph.

I did say "the clearest difference" .... There could well be small morphological differences that are not immediately apparent to the naked eye...and if it was simply a colour morph as opposed to a subspecies then i'm thinking it would have been classified as such by now

From what I can gather, Lqh has a different coloration -- it's darker. More of a light brownish yellow, as opposed to light yellow like Lqq. Never seen the two next to eachother to tell the difference.

I guess there's still much to learb about LQ and LQH

I tried to find some research papers on this but could not find any on the net.

Another thing you've got to take into consideration when you're looking at online pics Robert is "what type of light was this picture taken under and what type camera was used".....Many cameras (especially digital) operate within varying colour temperatures meaning a green, blue, yellow or whatever on one camera will not be exactly the same as the same colours on another camera. Plus, natural light, halogens, arc, tungsten, metal halide, standard household lighting as in neons and bulbs all give a different signature to a photo.....So comparing pictures for slight colour changes and using that info as a guide to identification when the odds are there will be a host of different lighting conditions and types used to take the pictures, is doomed to failure mate.
Only by having an example of each before your eyes could you really hope to gain an accurate account of any colour or shade differences.

Thanks Den. That is a very good point.

Den wrote:

Another thing you've got to take into consideration when you're looking at online pics Robert is "what type of light was this picture taken under and what type camera was used".....Many cameras (especially digital) operate within varying colour temperatures meaning a green, blue, yellow or whatever on one camera will not be exactly the same as the same colours on another camera. Plus, natural light, halogens, arc, tungsten, metal halide, standard household lighting as in neons and bulbs all give a different signature to a photo.....So comparing pictures for slight colour changes and using that info as a guide to identification when the odds are there will be a host of different lighting conditions and types used to take the pictures, is doomed to failure mate.
Only by having an example of each before your eyes could you really hope to gain an accurate account of any colour or shade differences.

A very good point indeed! I've noticed this myself while exploring the gallery at the scorpion files.

It seems to me that coloration is not always s good way to determine scorp species.

I hate to through a monkey in the wrench, but there is still a lot of discussion about weather or not what is seen here in Den pic is LQH, but rather L. brachycentus of Yemen. I had 4 of them and unfortunately all have died but 1 male. I'm told by the seller, that it may not be LQH. I'm still waiting for an answer.