SCORPIONS
Movies have given them a bad rap
H
ollywood has done
scorpions no favours
by allowing people
to believe that they are all
highly dangerous and that a
scorpion sting is bound to be
fatal. This is far from the truth.
There are about 130 species
of scorpion found in South
Africa, and in fact only two
species cause death.
Contrary to popular belief not
all scorpions are highly
venomous. Southern Africa is
home to the world's least
venomous scorpion as well as
one of the world's most
venomous scorpions.
As Jonathon Leeming,
renowned local arachnid
specialist points out, more
people are killed by dogs, run
over by cars or die of lung
cancer than from scorpion
stings.
Scorpions are predatory
arthropod animals of the
order Scorpiones within the
class Arachnida. They have
eight legs and are easily
recognised by the pair of
grasping pedipalps and the
narrow, segmented tail, often
carried in a characteristic
Parabuthus transvaalicus
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forward curve over the back,
ending with a venomous
stinger.
They generally eat anything
they can overpower. This
includes insects, spiders,
other scorpions, earthworms,
gastropods, as well as small
reptiles, mammals and
amphibians.
South African scorpions can
be divided into three
ecological categories
according to their
choice of habitat,
namely burrowing
scorpions, rockdwelling or arboreal
species.
The scorpion to look
out for is the thicktailed Parabuthusgenus. It can grow up
to 11–14cm long.
Parabuthus
transvaalicus is one of
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