Scorpions

Anatomy

Scorpions are arachnids related to ticks, mites, and spiders. They have four pairs of legs, two chelae (commonly called claws), and a metasoma (or tail). Their body is divided into two sections the cephalothorax, also known as the mesosoma and the abdomen or metasoma. The metasoma is divided into five segments and attached to the very last segment is the telson (commonly called a stinger), which contains the venom glands. A scorpion's body is covered in setae (hairs) that sense vibrations.

Distribution

Scorpions are very versatile creatures and they inhabit six out of seven of the continents. These continents include: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Obviously with such a wide distribution they also live in a variety of habitats, such as, grasslands, savannahs, rainforest, deciduous forest and other habitats.

Diet

Scorpions are nocturnal, meaning they hunt at night. Since they are nocturnal they depend upon their setae, rather than their vision. Once a scorpion has detected the vibrations its prey, it will either stalk the prey or wait to ambush it as it draws near. After the scorpion is within range it will grasp the prey in it pedipalps and depending on the size of scorpion and its prey it will either kill the prey by crushing it or injecting venom into it or a combination of both. In the wild, scorpions eat a variety of organisms including: insects, centipedes, spiders, grubs, and other scorpions.

Reproduction

The first stage in scorpion reproduction is the mating. The mating begins when the male grasp the female's pedipalps with his own pedipalps. After the male has grasped the female, he will maneuver her around until he finds a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore. Once the spermatophore has been deposited he will guide the female over it and she will absorb it. After the embryos have developed, she will give birth to live young, that will immediately crawl onto her back after their birth. The young will remain on the mother's back until they have molted, at which time they will descend and begin caring for themselves. The young do not need any food until after their first molt. The second type of reproduction that occurs in scorpions is parthenogenesis, in which unfertilized eggs develop into living embryos. Parthenogenesis is an unusual form of reproduction and it takes place in only a few species.