Scorpion Time

A stripe-tailed scorpion found under our garbage bin.

At this time of year, we often see scorpions in the garage. Most are dead when we find them; our pest control seems to be effective. I give these animals the respect they deserve and tend to avoid them. But they are interesting. Arizona has more than 30 species of this arachnid, though we commonly find only three varieties in the Sonoran Desert--the bark, striped-tailed, and giant desert scorpion. The most common is the stripe-tailed. The smallest of the three, the bark, is considered the most life-threatening to humans. The largest and least common--growing up to six inches--is the giant desert scorpion. I've only seen one of the giants--it was as large as a hermit crab. These big dudes eat other scorpions and even lizards.

Just to give you and idea of size.....

All scorpions are nocturnal, emerging from their burrows at night to forage for prey. They become prey themselves since elf owls, some snakes, grasshopper mice, and pallid bats relish them. One of the most interesting aspects of scorpions is that they contain a body substance that fluoresces under ultraviolet light. Hardware stores in Arizona often carry ultraviolet flashlights for finding scorpions at night, when they are active. We have such a flashlight and have used it to watch scorpions in the open desert. They really show up beautifully under ultraviolet at night.

Scorpions give birth to live young that crawl up their mothers pincers and onto her back, riding there until they molt. They need to keep a firm hold on mom while they are growing, though, because if they fall off they will become a snack for some other predator or even mom herself!