Unusual and very similar to crayfish creatures are called scorpions. Unlike other arachnids, they have a pair of claws and a tail that ends in a sharp and sometimes poisonous sting. The traditional fighting posture of this spider - the tail raised and bent to the back and the claws opened, terrifies many representatives of the fauna. Seeing a scorpion, a person is also frightened.
Let's take a closer look at this representative of the animal world and select the most interesting facts about scorpions.
Origin
Scorpions are the oldest of earthly creatures. Their current representatives belong to the order of terrestrial arthropods. But they appeared on the planet when even dinosaurs did not walk on it. Academician E. N. Pavlovsky believed that marine crustaceans eurypterids, which can be considered the "progenitors" of scorpions, lived in the coastal waters of the seas as early as the Silurian period of developmentplanets (one of the Paleozoic periods).
Terrestrial species began to develop later, namely in the Devonian period, that is, more than 300 million years ago. Well, all the families of scorpions that are known to science today were divided even less - "only" about 100 million years ago.
Appearance
The front part of the scorpion is so reminiscent of crayfish that this spider is sometimes called - "land cancer". The rather wide cephalothorax passes into the abdomen, which is narrower, giving the body the ability to bend, and therefore consisting of many joints - segments. The abdomen becomes a tail, which ends in the scorpion's most fearsome weapon - a small pear-shaped segment-capsule.
The capsule contains glands that produce poison. His spider injects into the body of the victim with a sharp needle - a sting.
In addition to claws, this arachnid has two vestigial limbs located near the mouth and necessary for grinding food. These are the jaw organs, in other words, the mandibles. Four pairs of legs on the lower part of the abdomen provide the scorpion with a very decent speed. Moreover, it should be noted that most varieties of this order of arthropods live in countries with hot and arid climatic conditions, the path of a scorpion often runs along unfavorable ground paths - hot and unsteady sands or between stones in the mountains.
Color and sizes
Different types of scorpions have different sizes - from 2 to 25see. Their coloring can also vary. In Europe, there are spiders of the "traditional" yellow-gray color.
In Africa, scorpions are more intense, black and brown. Other species may be white or translucent in color. There are greenish or yellow ones, there are even "variegated" varieties that have transverse brownish stripes.
Eyes
Different types of scorpions can have up to 8 eyes. Only one pair of them - the median eyes - is located in the very center of the head, the rest, called "lateral", are located on the sides of the head, but near the front edge.
But even with so many organs of vision, the scorpion sees poorly - it will rather distinguish light from shadow than details and the appearance of the victim. At the same time, as studies show, the scorpion is not at all able to distinguish, for example, the color red or its shades.
Hunting
Hence the preferences that a scorpion follows in its lifestyle. This spider goes hunting at night, avoiding light. During the day, it hides between and under rocks or completely buries itself in the sand. And crawls out to hunt in the darkness.
Hunt the scorpion in the following way: he just crawls slowly, putting forward his open claws. The main role in this process is given to touch: sensitive hairs-trichobothria in arachnids are located precisely on the limbs. Scorpions have most of them on their claws. These hairs sensitively react just to touches, pushes of air in the surrounding space,ground shaking.
When stumbling upon small prey - another spider, woodlice, worm, cockroach, and if you're lucky, it will be a small lizard or mouse, the scorpion simply closes the "fishing tool" one or more times, but if the maneuver is not successful, and the victim escapes, the scorpion, as a rule, does not pursue it, continuing to hunt further. But if someone still turned out to be in the claws, a prick with a sting follows, one or several times, until the seized one calms down. After that, the scorpion eats its prey immediately or drags it, holding it in claws, to the shelter.
Where they live
Listing briefly interesting facts about scorpions, it is worth mentioning that you can meet a scorpion not only wandering in the desert or in the mountains. This type of arachnid is quite common in warm regions in general - for example, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, in the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, in the southern part of Europe (Spain, Italy), as well as in South and in some northern states of America.
If this is a species whose range is represented by a wooded area, then a scorpion can be found by stirring up old foliage or destroying a rotten stump. In sandy soil, the spider will dig a hole for itself. Some species of scorpions even live on the coast or high in the mountains - where they can overcome a height of 4000 meters above sea level.
And in a man's dwelling
There have been cases when scorpions have visited human habitation, showing special "preference" to adobe buildings. But in the Caucasus region, there were cases when they were met in modern skyscrapers. Sometimes they managed to get upto the fourth floor.
It is a well-known parting word to travelers in the desert: the first thing a person who has just woken up should do is to shake up his bed, clothes and shoes in the most thorough way. There were cases when these dangerous creatures even climbed under the seat of cars.
How and why do they sting?
The sting means a lot to a scorpion. This is the first assistant during the hunt and a reliable tool to immobilize the victim. After all, even being clamped by claws, she does not stop moving and resisting, which does not give the winner the opportunity to enjoy the meal. The poison in the sting helps the scorpion to paralyze and sometimes even hit the victim, which is somewhat larger than the predatory spider itself. However, the scorpion is able to control its poisonous weapon - it can sting without releasing poison.
The venomous sting is also priceless in the self-defense of a scorpion. Fighting off other spiders, the scorpion most often stings them with a targeted bite between the middle eyes.
And here is one of the species of these spiders (Parabuthus transvaalicus), which can even shoot its poison at the enemy at a distance of about a meter.
Here are some more interesting facts about scorpions as animals. As arachnologists (arachnologists) found out, a scorpion needs a sting during the mating season - it serves as a kind of identification mark by which the female "recognizes" her partner. The fact is that in the process of evolution, the body of the male stretched out and the tail with a sting became quite long - longer than that of the female.
Is a scorpion dangerous - how to know?
Representatives of this order of Arthropods are quite numerous. To date, more than 1,700 species of scorpions are known, and only about 50 of them can be dangerous to humans.
When you meet a scorpion, first of all look at its claws. There is a common feature: the more powerful and intimidating these limbs look, the more developed they are, the less developed the sting. That is, poisonous scorpions, as a rule, have small claws.
Such is, for example, the Fat-tailed Scorpion, whose bite is considered the most highly toxic among the representatives of the scorpio fauna. It lives in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc. The body size is about 10 cm.
The bite of a scorpion with massive claws is no more dangerous for a human than a wasp sting. Usually their venom can only paralyze small invertebrates.
Stamina
Dwelling in the desert does not contribute to an abundant and varied menu, so nature has awarded the scorpion with the ability to calmly endure unfavorable hungry times. According to the research of the 19th century French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre, these arthropods can go without food for up to two years or even longer, while ordinary cases of forced hunger strike last for six months.
Thanks to strong claws and a sting - these frightening means of attack - as well as a hard and durable chitinous shell, the scorpion has practically no enemies in nature. In addition, vertebrates usually do not eat these spiders becausefear their poison.
Among the most interesting facts about scorpions and the fact that when the atomic bomb explosions were carried out in the Sahara Desert (1961-1962), these spiders were one of the only surviving local representatives of the fauna. They withstood irradiation with a force of up to 134,000 roentgens.
We have listed 10 interesting facts about scorpions.
