Sunday, May 18, 2008

It's not all about spiders...

In terms of arachnid diversity in the desert, scorpions are second to none. Kenya is known to be home to 24 scorpion species in three different families. I'm getting excited to find some of these in the wild! Scorpions glow under blacklight, so I am bringing two portable lights to search for these creatures in the field. I hope to photograph and check off as many species from the list below as possible. Not to worry, scorpions are secretive creatures and the chances of being stung are minimal.

P. imperator is not found in Kenya, but five of its close relatives are. That's okay, I already have a picture with this species.

Scorpions of Kenya

(Few scorpions are dangerous, red denotes species to be careful around)

Buthidae

Babycurus buettneri

Babycurus jacksoni

Babycurus wituensis

Hottentotta eminii

Hottentotta minax

Hottentotta polystictus

Hottentotta trilineatus

Isometrus maculatus

Lychas burdoi

Lychas obsti

Odonturus dentatus

Parabuthus granimanus granimanus

Parabuthus granulatus

Parabuthus liosoma

Parabuthus pallidus

Uroplectes fischeri fischeri

Uroplectoides emiliae

Hemiscorpiidae

Iomachus politus politus

Opisthacanthus rugiceps

Scorpionidae

Pandinus bellicosus

Pandinus cavimanus

Pandinus exitialis

Pandinus pallidus

Pandinus viatoris

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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Whoa! I'd love to hold (and pet if possible) a scorpion sometime. Bring one by the OUB, will ya?

Jeff McCaffrey

May 19, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Anonymous said...

"It's not all about spiders" indeed! You have some great species to look forward to! Be sure to flip over as many rocks as possible, because most of those genera love to hide under rocks, either clinging to the underside of them (Babycurus, Odonturus, Hottentotta) or in shallow scrapes beneath them (Parabuthus). The Pandinus will likely be found in deeper burrows, so they might be harder to find, but P. exitialis would be worth the dig (That's the gold-claw emperor).

Be sure to take many pictures of the scorpions you find! Some of those species, such as the obscure Babycurus and the Uroplectes, are ones that I've never seen.

May 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM
Viagra Online said...

thanks for the complete list of scorpions of Kenya, I wish to have a collections of scorpions at home since I really admire and respect this insect!

August 24, 2010 at 2:01 PM

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