Scorpions and Their Control

There are 90 species of scorpions found in the United States, and here in Texas, we have 18 of them.

Scorpions are not insects. They are members of the class Arachnida (which also includes spiders, ticks, and king crabs) and the order Scorpionata.* Scorpions have four pairs of jointed legs, large pedipalps (claws) that can be used for grasping or crushing, long tails equipped with stingers capable of delivering painful, sometimes dangerous stings, and as many as six eyes (depending on the specie).

The stings of scorpions are usually just painful, but those of a few species (such as the sculptured scorpion) can be deadly. In addition, some people who are very sensitive to scorpion venom can suffer life-threatening reactions even from stings of scorpions whose venom would not otherwise be fatal.

In nature, scorpions live in dark, secluded places like underground burrows, under rocks, or in mulch or leaf litter during the day, and come out at night to hunt. But they also have been known to take up residence in all sorts of protected locations, including outdoor electrical boxes, rodent bait stations, old tires, inverted buckets, and even inside shoes and boots. That's why any real Texan knows to shake out his or her boots before putting them on. There might just be some unwanted guests in there.

One odd characteristic of scorpions is that they fluoresce under ultraviolet light. In fact, UV lights are often used by researchers to catch scorpions at night (and by outdoors enthusiasts to avoid them).

Scorpion control can be quite challenging and may involve the use of traps, exclusion, habitat modification, baits, dusts, sprays, and granule products.

* Factoid: Have you ever wondered about how all these these Latin names for insects and other living things are organized?

Well basically, the order of the major taxonomical levels is as follows:

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Specie

This is known as the taxonomical hierarchy. All living things fall into one of three families: Animalia, Plantae, or Protozoa. From there, they are further divided with increasing specificity as one proceeds through the hierarchy.

Biology students frequently use mnemonics to memorize the taxonomical hierarchy. One popular one is, "King Phillip, come out, for goodness sake." The first letter of each word corresponds to the first letter of each division in the hierarchy.