Sunday, August 31, 2008

Gravid Centruroides vittatus

While doing the rounds this afternoon, I noticed that the female Centruroides vittatus I brought back from Sanderson, Texas was in an unusual pose. (She's the one I never got around to photographing when I got home.)

For those of you unfamiliar to scorpions, those little white globes you can see through the tergites are scorpion embryos, meaning she's going to have babies in the near future.

Closeup:
You can also see a touch of mycosis on the left pectine -- I hope that it doesn't kill her before the babies molt to second instar.

I honestly didn't believe that this female was gravid when I first got her. The T.I.T.T.I.E.S. member who found and collected her thought she may be based on the fact that the vast majority of wild-caught females are. I was doubtful because she was so skinny when we found her (and had a voracious appetite when I got home), and we found a juvenile of this species elsewhere on the trip. Everything I saw was telling me she had just had her brood.

Shows what I know, huh?