Scorpions

Stuff you never knew

about Scorpions

Scorpions
Scorpions are the oldest known terrestrial
arthropods
Fossil scorpions were found in Paleozoic
rocks that were 430 million years old (long
before the time of the dinosaurs)!
These fossils are over three feet long! The
ancient scorpions are thought to have been
amphibious or wholly aquatic.

Class Arachnida
They are venomous arthropods of the
Class Arachnida, relatives of spiders,
mites, and ticks.
Given the class they are in, would you
consider them to be an insect?

NO--INSECTS
ARE IN THE
CLASS INSECTA

Scorpion Anatomy
The stinger at the end of the tail injects
a paralyzing poison into the prey.
Unlike other arachnids, scorpions
have large, pincer-like pedipalps, used
to grab and subdue prey.

Scorpion Anatomy
If scorpions are in the same class as
spiders, how many legs do they have?

Scorpions have
eight legs!

Scorpion Anatomy
Scorpions in general have three to five sets
of eyes.
Some species of cave- and litter-dwelling
scorpions, however, have no eyes!
The eyes are very sensitive: some think they
even allow the scorpion to navigate by star
light.

What do scorpions eat?

Rodents

Lizards
Spiders
Insects

Other Scorpions

A Hibernating Scorpion?
To conserve energy in times of famine,
scorpions can slow down their
metabolism. Certain scorpions can
survive almost a year without food, and
they can even hibernate.

Do Scorpions Drink Water?

No!
They get all the water
they need from their
food.

Enemies
Shrews, snakes, owls, centipedes,
tarantulas, bats, and other scorpions
prey on scorpions.

Is It Normal to See Scorpions

During the Day?
If you said no, pat yourself on
the back.
Scorpions are sensitive to light, so they
are primarily nocturnal.

How Do Scorpions Catch Their

Prey?
When potential prey passes by, it creates
vibrations the scorpion can sense.
They can quickly strike with the stinger or
grasp the prey with their claws.

Sensing Vibrations
Scorpions have tiny sensory hairs
on their legs that detect touch,
temperature, and other
information, just like a cats
whiskers!
Similar to the way seismologists
locate earthquakes, scorpions
determine the size and location of
a meal by measuring subsurface
vibrations.

Do Scorpions Live in Families?

YES!
A few scorpions exhibit social
behaviors, such as searching for food
together, colonial burrowing, and even
living in an extended family.

Scorpion Reproduction
All scorpions are
viviparous. Do you
know what that means?

They give live

birth, like
humans!
The mother scorpion
can give birth to about
35 young, which are
inch in length.

Scorpion Babies
She assists them by
making a "birth basket"
with her folded legs to
catch them as they are
born and to provide
them with a means to
climb to her back.
The mother cares for the
young until the babies
are old enough to hunt
on their own.

What is the biggest scorpion

of all?
The black emperor scorpion is the
biggest scorpion of all.
It weighs about as much as a hardboiled egg and is about 8 inches long.
The longest recorded scorpion in the
world was 8.5 inches in length!

Where can you find scorpions?

Scorpions are known to be desert

creatures.
They can also be found in the sea, in
the mountains, in the tropics, and in
caves

Where on earth are scorpions

found?
What is the only continent that
scorpions are NOT found on?

Antarctica!

Scorpion Venom
Do Scorpions Sting or Bite?

If you said Sting, you are

absolutely right!
The stinger on the end of their tail
carries their venom.

Scorpion Venom
Scorpions use their
venom to kill or paralyze
their prey so it can be
eaten.
Scorpion venoms are
complex mixtures of
neurotoxins and other
substances; each species
has a unique mixture.

Neurotoxins
What part of the body do
neurotoxins affect?

The nervous system! This

includes your brain,
spinal cord, and nerves.

Scorpion Poison
The sting of most scorpions can be very
painful, like a bee sting, although most are
not lethal.
Only 25 of 1500 species of scorpions in the
world are deadly to humans, including
Arizonas bark scorpion.

Deadliest Scorpion
Where do you think
the most deadly
scorpion is found?
If you said Africa, you
are correct! The most
dangerous scorpion
lives in the Sahara
desert in Northern
Africa.

Suicide Myth
There is a belief that scorpions
commit suicide by stinging
themselves to death when
surrounded by fire. IS THIS TRUE?

NOPE!
The myth may derive from the
fact that scorpions are
ectotherms; when exposed to
intense heat their body
malfunctions. This causes the
scorpion to spasm wildly and can
accidentally sting itself.

Scorpions as pets?
The most common scorpion pet is the
emperor scorpion, which is more docile
than most species and has a mild
venom.

Glowing Scorpions?
Scorpions fluoresce or glow under
ultra-violate light so they are easy to
find with the aid of a black light during
the night.

Most scorpions reproduce sexually,

and most species have male and
female individuals. However, some
species,

reproduce through parthenogensis, a process in which

unfertilised eggs develop into living embryos. Parthenogenic
reproduction starts following the scorpion's final moult to maturity
and continues thereafter.

Sexual reproduction is accomplished by the transfer of a spermatophore from the male

to the female; scorpions possess a complex courtship and mating ritual to effect this
transfer. Mating starts with the male and female locating and identifying each other
using a mixture of pheromones and vibrational communication. Once they have
satisfied the other that they are of opposite sex and of the correct species, mating can
commence.

The courtship starts with the male grasping the female's pedipalps with
his own; the pair then perform a "dance" called the "promenade deux".
In this "dance", the male leads the female around searching for a suitable
place to deposit his spermatophore. The courtship ritual can involve
several other behaviours,

When the male has identified a suitable location, he deposits the spermatophore
and then guides the female over it. This allows the spermatophore to enter her
genital opercula, which triggers release of the sperm, thus fertilising the female.
The mating process can take from 1 to 25+ hours and depends on the ability of
the male to find a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore

Unlike the majority of species in the class Arachnida, which are

oviparous, scorpions seem to be universally ovoviviparous. The young
are born one by one after hatching and expelling the embryonic
membrane, if any, and the brood is carried about on its mother's back
until the young have undergone at least one moult

Before the first moult, scorplings cannot survive naturally

without the mother, since they depend on her for protection
and to regulate their moisture levels. Especially in species
that display more advanced sociability (e.g.Pandinus spp.),
the young/mother association can continue for an extended
period of time. The size of the litter depends on the species
and environmental factors, and can range from two to over a
hundred scorplings. The average litter however, consists of
around 8 scorplings.[38]

The young generally resemble their parents. Growth is

accomplished by periodic shedding of the exoskeleton
(ecdysis). A scorpion's developmental progress is measured
in instars (how many moults it has undergone). Scorpions
typically require between five and seven moults to reach
maturity. Moulting commences with a split in the
old exoskeleton just below the edge of the carapace (at the
front of the prosoma). The scorpion then emerges from this
split; the pedipalps and legs are first removed from the old
exoskeleton, followed eventually by the metasoma. When it
emerges, the scorpion's new exoskeleton is soft, making the
scorpion highly vulnerable to attack. The scorpion must
constantly stretch while the new exoskeleton hardens to
ensure that it can move when the hardening is complete.
The process of hardening is calledsclerotisation. The new
exoskeleton does not fluoresce; as sclerotisation occurs, the
fluorescence gradually returns.