My wife found this on Stansbury island under a rock. I had originally thought Vaejovis confusus. After I misidentified the Paruroctonus boreus from my Moab trip, I thought that I had done the same thing with this specimen. While looking over the photos today I found myself thinking V. confusus again, but something is not quite right. What do you think (other than this guy needs lessons)?



Same as above, just bad lighting.


Underside.


Brian Nielsen

sorry im clueless on this one and Kari wont be back for a couple weeks

Do you agree that it is Vaejovis but not Vaejovis confusus? I am going back out to the island tonight to see if I can find more examples of it.

Brian Nielsen

hmmm im not up on Utah species or Vaejovis ssp for that matter but going over the state check list on Kari's site and compairing pics V.jonesi and V.lapidicola both look close to it to me.

Looks like V. confusus to me!

You are probably right Steve-o. I thought that the proportion of the metasoma to the mesosoma looked wrong for V. confusus,but it was an early instar so maybe that has something to do with the difference.

I went back there last night and all that I found in that spot were typical looking V. confusus. I found three of them there. At a spot just to the North I found another V. confusus and five Anuroctonus phaiodactylus.

Brian Nielsen

hmmm... It is a juvenile. So it could be the V. confusus-thing out there. But I'm not convinced fer sure. The pectinal tooth count of V. confusus, from Stahnke's dissertation (1940) are F: 13-14; M: 17-19. Williams (1980 Baja paper) says F: 10-14; M: 14-19. There are many oter characters, but they don't usually work on juveniles. With a series of adults and juveniles from the locality, however, one can discern whether these small ones are the same as the adults. What gets me is the coloration. A yellowish vaejovid scorpion is typically very pale when young.

[quote="Kari McWest"]hmmm... It is a juvenile. The pectinal tooth count of V. confusus, from Stahnke's dissertation (1940) are F: 13-14]

the pectinal tooth count for the "V. confusus" here is F:13-14; M:17-18.
Anyhow something odd for sure. We should go sample this site Brian, i'll bring the mini ziplocks and microscope.


Z

Sounds good to me.

Here are some pictures of Vaejovis confusus that were very small. They were 2X the size of the scorpion in question though. But they have more of the typical look. To me the proportion of the metasoma to the mesosoma looks totally different. Compare a tergite to a metasomal segment.

These were taken two years ago. Kari, you might recognize the pictures.







Brian Nielsen

This is how I remember seeing male confusus alive, collecting them, as an early teen in Arizona: males that have large tail compared to body size.
Yes, I recognize them!