Sunday, June 22, 2008
Field Guide to the Scorpions of Kenya
Things are starting to get very exciting and hectic with just a few days left before I leave for Kenya! Thanks to a lot of help from fellow Cornell entomology major and scorpion enthusiast Anthony Auletta I was able to finish a project I've been hoping to accomplish for a few months. Scorpions are a relatively unstudied group taxonomically and no good field guide exists for Kenya or any of the surrounding countries. We spent several hours scouring the internet and primary literature to complete a useful field guide to the known scorpion species of Kenya. This will be an invaluable tool for me in the field as I attempt to identify and photograph the majority of known Kenyan species. I'm making the guide available for download here for anyone that is interested. (Enter the three letter code in the upper right region of the screen to begin the free download: appx 45 mb)
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7 comments:
Hi Eric,
I am a norwegian currently living in Nairobi, and Ive been trying to find scorpions in Kenya for the three years ive been here. Only found four different so far. Your 45 mb guide is perhaps a little ambitious to download in an internet cafe.
Could you make a compressed version that i could download? Im also working on a guide, and Im sure we could share some ideas and pictures if you like. Contact me on ib att home dott no, or on ibsmail att ibsite dott com.
Anonymous, If you are looking for scorpions in Nairobi, you wont find many at all. Far too high and far too cold. Although, I wouldnt go digging through a wood-pile on a cold august evening without gloves...
Your best bet, without going too far afield, is the Magadi area and spcifically the banks of the Uaso Nyiro rear the Nguruman Escarpement.
The NFD (northern Kenya) though is where you will find more scorpions than you would ever wish to meet. I have worked the length and breadth of Northern Kenya for many years and have met more than I care to count. I cuurently reside in Samburu and just this morning have caught the largest scorpion I have ever seen (trying to identify it brought me to this blog). Dadaab is famous for its extremely large and agressive solifugids. Smaller desert species (scorpions) are prolific in the Korr, Kaisut, and Chalbi areas (just turn over any rock)...
hi eric,
love to see that you too are interested in spiders.i m also interested but not more than scorpions.@vivek k. chouhan
Your video was removed. I would love to see it. Any suggestions?
I am at present in UK but my wife in Kenya has today22 june 2010 had a scorpion in the house (brown) She is in UKUNDU DIANI BEACH (south coast of Mombasa.)Also they had a cobra which is less common and for them very disturbing
I am fascinated by scorpions since I had one when I was a kid, thanks for the information about the scorpions of Kenya, I didn't know so much about them
Hi Eric,
My sister live in Kiio Rock in Kituui (about 4 hours east of Nairobi) and on Monday last was stung by a scorpion hiding in a flour sack. Not sure what kind it was. He hadn swelled like a balloon and went black but then recovered...
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