Centruroides sculpturatus Mating

Last week, I separated the second-instar young from my female Centruroides sculpturatus. Yesterday I brought her and my two males to work with me; she was in one container, and the two males in another. I traded her places with one of the males to prepare for a trade later in the day.

She had not eaten since before I got her, but the male I introduced her to quickly sought out her chela. Within a few minutes they were performing the Promenade à deux, which continued for roughly half an hour. They were not disturbed by moving the container around to show my colleagues what was going on.

At one point, my boss walked in, so I lifted the container up to show him. I distinctly recall seeing them still grasping chela when I reached for them, but by the time my boss saw them they had separated. I glanced in and saw a spermatophore on the bark.


More photos are available here.

Uroctonus mordax Spermatophore

I brought the spermatophore in to work on Wednesday and got a few closeups under the microscope. Very interesting and bizarre.

The larger version of this picture is available here, and a few more shots can be found in this gallery.

I've also uploaded several videos from Tuesday night's attempts to my YouTube account, including one of male D's rejection.

Notes, Part II

Male B, female 3:
Male observed sexually stinging female. Following morning, no spermatophore found. Pair separated, will attempt again.

Male C, female 4:
Spermatophore found in morning. Pair separated.