Heterometrus ID

Hi all,

I asked this question on another forum and I was sent here for a better opinion, so here goes:

I just purchased what was labelled as a Vietnamese Forest Scorpion (Heterometrus laoticus).

Now I know the Heterometrus sp. are hard to ID and that suppliers are renowned for incorrectly labeling animals so I was wondering if anyone with knowledge of these scorpions could take a look at some pics and tell me if it is indeed a Vietnamese as there were also some labelled Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrus spinifer) which looked exactly the same.

Are there any ways to tell the difference between the different ones without knowing their source of origin?

Also, I know these can live as a communal species but are there any issues with mixing H.Laoticus with H.Spinifer as how can you be sure of what you have?

Thescorpion in question is pictured below:





Many thanks in advance,

Dave

You might want to take a look at this.

Can you get some close up pics of the carapace? This would be helpful. From what I can see, I'd say H. spinifer. But I can't be sure from the pics. (The pics need to be clear enough, so that I can see the granulation on the carapace) Heterometrus laoticus has no carapace granulation, it should be completely smooth.

Thanks for your help and the very interesting link.

Tried to get a close up but pic is not that great, will try and get a better pic in natural light tomorrow.

Not sure if this pic helps any.

From those pictures i'm 90% sure it's laoticus.
Reasons;
Jet black carapace with no green tinting (spinifer usually has tinting)
Seems to have no granulation on carapace sans the tiny specs on the cheek, spinifers have more usually
Seems to have a more compact body like a laoticus

As for the question of mixing it really depends on the individual scorpion and species and size of enclosure when mixing species. I've heard of successes with mixing emperors and spinifers, i've sadly never heard of the outcomes of laoticus and spinifer communal setups.

If you try it be very very careful.

The granulation on the chelae is bit suspicious. H. laoticus has completely smooth chelae.

DolbyR wrote:

The granulation on the chelae is bit suspicious. H. laoticus has completely smooth chelae.

+1
Also, I can see some granulation on the carapace, if it was laoticus, it should be completely smooth. I hate trying to ID Heterometrus.

Scorpion19981000 wrote:

I hate trying to ID Heterometrus.

Try to ID Euscorpius. It's even worse

Scorpion19981000 wrote:

DolbyR wrote:

The granulation on the chelae is bit suspicious. H. laoticus has completely smooth chelae.

+1
Also, I can see some granulation on the carapace, if it was laoticus, it should be completely smooth. I hate trying to ID Heterometrus.

The plot thickens. I'm not even going to try an ID on this as I wouldn't know where to start lol.

Is there any good books on Hets??

Cheers for your help on this matter everyone.

I have tried to get some better pics today and there definitely appears to be some granulation (although I'm not 100% on what I'm looking for).




So I'm guessing that it's a H.Spinifer?

I'm more leaning towards H.petersii.

Callum B wrote:

Is there any good books on Hets??

You might want to take a look at this.

DolbyR wrote:

I'm more leaning towards H.petersii.

I would say it is either H. spinifer or H. petersii. I am also leaning towards H. petersii, the body looks more compact than H. spinifer.

I agree.
However, black telson usually is typical for laoticus and petersii. spinifers usually have a dark brown one. Though this is not 100% accurate. I have seen some black telsoned emps too.