Common Yellow Scorpion
Scientific name
Buthus occitanus.
Description
The common yellow scorpion has a yellowish colour. It is from 12 centimeters to 15 centimeters long. It has got a long tail whith a light brown stinger which is used to sting and kill its preys paralizing them. It has 8 legs and 2 pincers.
Location
The common yellow scorpion lives in in North Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe, mostly in arid and rocky habitats. In Spain it is found up to 1000 meters above sea level, where it survives snowfall in winter.
Facts
The common yellow scorpion has got an exoskeleton so it shades it.
Reproduction
When the common yellow scorpions are going to mate they hold themselves from the pincers and they dance in circles. These species is a viviparan species. After that the male leaves a bag of sperm and the female picks it. The female usually eats the male after mating.
Feeding
The common yellow scorpion feeds mainly in insects and arachnids.
Daily and annual activity
The common yellow scorpion is normally active in the hottest months of the year. It is a nocturnal species so it goes out of its shelter to hunt at night. In the day it normally hides under shelter like rocks, leaves, trenchs in walls... It can climb so you can find it on a wall or on the ceiling.
Venom
Its toxicity varies markedly over its range: European scorpions give a nasty but essentially harmless sting (except to people who are allergic; comparable to bee stings), while Northern African ones are occasionally lethal. It is generally more harmful and painful for kids, elderly people, small animals and allergic people.
Crust Scorpion of Arizona
Scientific name
Centruroides sculpturatus
Description
The crust scorpion of arizona is a small light brown scorpion. The adult male is 8 centimeters long and the female is slightly smaller with 7 centimeters.
Location
The crust scorpion of arizona is common in the United States of America, in the Sonoran Desert.
Habitat
The crust scorpion of arizona is a species that lives in the desert because its layers of fat keep it hydrated but it hides under shelters during the day.
Feeding
The crust scorpion of arizona is a nocturnal species so it hunts its prey at night. It feeds mainly in crickets and cocroach.
Enemies
The crust scorpion of arizona is hunted by many species of reptiles, birds, and other invertebrates: Snakes, spiders, wildboar, rodents and other species of scorpions. There are other factors that kills that scorpion such as pesticides, selling them for pets and the recolection for scientists to do experiments.
Reproduction
The crust scorpion of arizona takes several months to born and when the mother gives birth to the newborns they go to the back of their mother. The mother gives birth from 25 to 35 newborns that become independent at the 3rd week of life. The crust scorpion of arizona can live for 6 years.
Facts
The crust scorpion of arizona joins in the winter into a group of scorpions and they all form groups of 20 and 30 individuals. Scientists have discovered that they are extremely resistant because if the scorpion freezes it can be like that for several weeks and it doesn't die.
Venom
The crust scorpion of arizona is the most venemous scorpion of North America and its poison is very painful and harmful. Its sting can last from 24 to 72 hours. The sintoms are that you can be paralized, you have foam in your mouth, you can't breathe for a short period of time and after the poison has passed there can be some electric shocks. In Mexico there are more than 100.000 people that are stinged by the crust scorpion of arizona evey year.
Antidote
There is an antidote that is used for this type of scorpion poison. If you get stinged by a scorpion you have to go to a hospital.
First aid
The basic aids for this sting are:
- Clean the area where the scorpion has injected the poison.
- Put a cold towel on it.
- Take paracetamol (Tylenol) and ibuprofen.