Figure 1.
Autotomy in Ananteris Thorell, 1891 scorpions.
A. Ananteris balzani Thorell, 1891, adult male from Serra das Araras Ecological Station, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Dashed lines indicate autotomy cleavage planes between metasomal segments I-IV. B, C. Autotomy in Ananteris solimariae Botero-Trujillo & Flórez, 2011, adult male, video frames. B. Exact moment before autotomy, scorpion fighting to escape. Arrow indicates beginning of cleavage. C. Immediately after autotomy, detached tail twitching.
Table 1.
Records of metasomal autotomy in scorpions of the genus Ananteris Thorell, 1891 (Buthidae).
Table 2.
Incidence of metasomal autotomy in wild populations of the scorpion genus Ananteris Thorell, 1891 (Buthidae).
Figure 2.
Post-autotomy healing of severed stump of metasomal segment of adult male Ananteris solimariae Botero-Trujillo & Flórez, 2011.
A. One hour after autotomy, with drop of hemolymph. B. One day after, hemolymph loss continues. C. Two days after, hemolymph loss reduced, brown scar beginning to develop. D. Three days after, hemolymph loss reduced, scar developing. E. Four days after, scar almost completely developed. F. Five days after, no hemolymph loss, scar fully formed. G. Ten days after, scar darkened. H. Twenty-five days after, scar fully defined.
Figure 3.
Ananteris solimariae Botero-Trujillo & Flórez, 2011, adult males, twenty-five days after autotomy.
A. Feeding on cricket nymph. B. Attempting to sting, showing swollen opisthosoma. C. Accumulated excrement evident as white area inside opisthosoma (arrow).
Figure 4.
Scanning electron micrographs of cleavage planes on severed stumps of metasomal segments of selected buthid scorpions.
A, B. Ananteris balzani Thorell, 1891, segments III, posterior end (A) and IV, anterior end (B), manipulated with forceps to induce detachment. C, D. Zabius fuscus (Thorell, 1876), segments II, posterior end (C) and III, anterior end (D), detached with forceps. E, F. Ananteris solimariae Botero-Trujillo & Flórez, 2011, segments III, posterior end (E) and IV, anterior end (F), post-autotomy. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.