SeanCasey Hadogenes
Number of posts : 55 Age : 42 Location : Chino Hills, CA Registration date : 2008-09-23
| Subject: Interesting Mesobuthus gibbosus observation 12/15/2008, 12:34 am | |
| I have three adults in a communal setup. I have been observing a two of this species (never the third for some reason) wagging their tails at times. It is quite entertaining to watch. I have always been curios as to "why". I figured it was a warning or aggression sign, and Denise felt that it could be a mating ritual. Until tonight I had hard time sexing this species. Their pectines are small and I never could get a clear picture of them, but some places online show an overlap in pectine count anyhow. Tonight all three of them were right next to each other and I was able to study them for several minutes and finally picked out some very slight differences. Two of the scorps, interestingly the two who were the tail waggers, had slightly longer and narrow tails and slightly longer skinnier bodies, and slightly more bulbous chela. Upon looking at their pectines I could only pick out that one (the one with differnt traits from the other two) had a slightly wider gap between the pectines
So I decided that I had two males and one female. After feeding them I watched them for a bit and noticed the female under her hide. One of the males approached and once at the entrance to hide started wagging its tail. So far I am in agreement with Denise that this is possibly a mating related activity. It will sure be interesting to find out. | |
|
Mr. Mordax Administrator
Number of posts : 7743 Age : 38 Location : PNW Registration date : 2008-02-06
| Subject: Re: Interesting Mesobuthus gibbosus observation 12/15/2008, 1:15 am | |
| That is indeed an interesting observation. The "wagging" could be similar to the juddering observed in other species.
Did the two males ever wag at each other? It could also serve a territorial function. | |
|
SeanCasey Hadogenes
Number of posts : 55 Age : 42 Location : Chino Hills, CA Registration date : 2008-09-23
| Subject: Re: Interesting Mesobuthus gibbosus observation 12/15/2008, 2:57 am | |
| I have not observed the two males wag at each other, but I'll keep an eye out for that. The next time I see it I'll be prepared to capture a video and post that here. It is very entertaining to watch. | |
|
Sponsored content
| Subject: Re: Interesting Mesobuthus gibbosus observation | |
| |
|