Pandinus Africanus (Really Pandinus Imperator)

As mentioned on my Hadogenes paucidens thread below. I acquired a pair today (sold as P.Africanus, although I'm aware there is no such thing? And they are infact P.Imperator) with the young male Hadogenes paucidens. However, Being new to the hobby, I think I have two males instead of a sexed pair. I do have some photo's, however they are not the best. I only have one picture of the underside of #1. That being said #2 has more prominant pectines. So I'm led to believe they are both males, for that reason, I have seperated them for the time being. Here's some pictures of them.

#1







#2







#1 and #2 together for compasent (both seperated now, as they WERE fighting(?))







Any advice greatly appreciated it. We have rung the shop we got them from, and they will happily swap one of the 'males' for a female. Although, this won't be until Monday, so any information regarding there sex's would be better sooner rather then later!

Kind Regards,
Scott

Members of Arachnoboard are claiming they are not Pandinus at all, but Heterometrus. Species. I've done a little googling and they do look very Heterometrus Laoticus or Spinifer.

Scott

i dont know if theyre heteromtrus sp or pandinus...
i cant tell the difference right away...
if i had to say, i would say that neither are emperors because i cant see the "roughness" of their pinchers...
so i guess they both are of the heterometrus sp.

but from what i do know, telling by pectines alone is inaccurate...
you need to look at the genital operculum...
in my opinion, and i have 2 females, the #1 looks female to me, but than again i might not be seeing it right as im currently under of the influence of medication from being sick...
i cant tell about #2 because of no pictures, but #1 definitely looks to be female everytime i go back to see the pic...

id still wait for another opinion though....

Really? I think #1 is male due to the split in the operculum. I'm not sure if you can see it, but I see a faint line.



Scott

i was saying female because of the point in the bottom, males have a more rounded out, females have the point in the bottom

I'm going to take some more photos, from below.

Scott

try to use a clear container, and no flash...

i use the containers that betta fish come in when you buy them from wal mart...

and as a reference...heres a pic of one of my females

Thanks Mikey.

Here's some better pictures for you's;

#1.






#2





In my opinion, they both look male, As they both seem to have a split operculum, however, I am new to this....

Scott

ok...im not afraid to admit when im wrong, but i might be wrong...

id wait for someone else whos knows better ...

i was just saying that the 1st pic you posted looked female to me...

and i can tell you 100% that those arent emperors...but i think you already knew that =)

(does #1 have a messed up pincher?)

I'm 100% sure they are not Emperor's now. I believe they Heterometrus spinifer to be honest. Asian Forest's are there common name I think. #1's Pincer is fine, I think it's just the picture.

Thanks again,
Scott

lol i just know its not an emperor...
although it does look like someone elses H. spinifer, so i guess you'd be right...

oh in the picture it looks like its missing the top pincher lol

no problem dude...

You've got me thinking now, I'm going to go and check on "him" now.

Thanks for your insight on the matter mate.

Would just wish the forum to be more active.

Scott

I take it back Mikey, I admit I was wrong too! How Ironic. #1 has his top pinsir missing, I imagine this will grow back once he Moults, If he does, depending on what instar he is?

Scott

ehh i would hope so...
i have no idea how to determine age in a heterometrus...

with an emperor its easy, you can tell by the color of the vesicle (the ball that holds the stinger), but i dont think its the same with hets...

To me they look to be male and female but you keep changing the pictures so much that im losing track. The first picture at the VERY top of the forum appears to be male and the second one from the top appears to be female. It looks more to me like a heterometrus due to how the pedipals of the ones you have are more elongated. Emperors are much shorter than those of the pics your have taken.

I'm not changing any photos, I have just added some better, clearer photos for you to view. Just ignore the top pictures then. What makes you say a pair? I'm going by the operculum, and they both seem to have them split? But the Pectines do seem to be larger on #1, and they are both identical of size.

Scott

Doesnt matter if there split. Its more if they are heart shaped. If there is a point that points near the pectines. Which makes it "Heart shaped"

anemiaffx wrote:

Doesnt matter if there split. Its more if they are heart shaped. If there is a point that points near the pectines. Which makes it "Heart shaped"

Ahh I See. So again, My photo's are no use? Are the pectines an accurate method of sexing or is the operculum more accurate?

Scott

Side by Side?



Scott

See im only like 50/50 on the imperors... Im not all that great at ing these genus as some other. But when i look at them, my instincts make me think there both females...

anemiaffx wrote:

See im only like 50/50 on the imperors... Im not all that great at ing these genus as some other. But when i look at them, my instincts make me think there both females...

Not what I want to hear! Haha. Thats Two Females, Two Males and A Pair.... I ideally need to find out bu monday, otherwise I am replacing one.

Scott

th e genital operculums look different on a p. imperator than they do on the heterometrus...

i just looked at both my females up close and they look way different than those of the ones in the pics...

lol by monday morning, you'll have a sure answer...
i bet both my adult emperors on that =)

the lycan mikey wrote:

th e genital operculums look different on a p. imperator than they do on the heterometrus...

i just looked at both my females up close and they look way different than those of the ones in the pics...

lol by monday morning, you'll have a sure answer...
i bet both my adult emperors on that =)

I sure do hope so. I've had an experienced keeper on Aracnoboard tell me they are both males, which is my gut feeling. So I am going to take one back, most probably the one with the broken pinsir, and hope they do not notice (because I didn't when I purchased).

Scott

ohh crap thats right there hets not imps. lol my bad i completly forgot cause your title to this thread is P. Imperator so i keep thinking there imps

lol i know right....
i looked at those pics like 10 times, than looked at mine, and thought "those are some smooth pinchers for an emperor"

than i read that he thought they were hets or someone thought they were hets...