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Centruroides gracilis molting

Sunday, June 5, 2005 | 1 comment

When I checked today my Centruroides gracilis "Rocky" I noticed that it was almost completely molted. Just the tail was still stuck into the old exoskeleton (exuvia). The scorpion looked much bigger compared to when we found it, two weeks ago.

Centruroides gracilis molting
Centruroides gracilis molting
Centruroides gracilis molting
Centruroides gracilis molting

I used the UV LED scorpion detector I made some time ago to take two pictures of the molting scorpion under black light. The digital camera I used, a Philips ESP60, is a quite sensitive to UV, so it's a bit hard to see that the old exoskeleton glows (green / yellow) thanks to the UV emitted by the UV LEDs, and the new exoskeleton of the scorpion not yet. When its new "skin" is hardened out it will glow under UV as well.

Centruroides gracilis molting, under UV light
Centruroides gracilis molting, under UV light
Centruroides gracilis molting, under UV light
Centruroides gracilis molting, under UV light

The scorpion is now called a 3rd instar.

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