Identification help

[BobW]

This one was outside my garage this morning at 8 a.m. I'm not sure if dead or just playing dead. A month ago, my roommate was stung while digging through pine needles under a pine tree 20 feet away from here, while installing a drip watering system.

So I am guessing the one that stung him was probably the same species as this one shown here. Plus I had one on the front door of my house one night 2 weeks ago.

Any information on what species? This is kind of alarming to me, though I know I live in scorpion country. What can I do to keep these away from my house and garage?

Goldfield, Nevada, elevation is 5,600 feet, 37.7° N, 117.23° W

Thank you for your help.

 

[Albertosaurus]

This one was outside my garage this morning at 8 a.m. I'm not sure if dead or just playing dead. A month ago, my roommate was stung while digging through pine needles under a pine tree 20 feet away from here, while installing a drip watering system.

So I am guessing the one that stung him was probably the same species as this one shown here. Plus I had one on the front door of my house one night 2 weeks ago.

Any information on what species? This is kind of alarming to me, though I know I live in scorpion country. What can I do to keep these away from my house and garage?

Goldfield, Nevada, elevation is 5,600 feet, 37.7° N, 117.23° W

Thank you for your help.

View attachment 283193

Most likely a desert hairy, but it could be a bark scorpion. Better go check that out. Most likely a bark. They have nasty venom so better go see a doctor.

 

[BobW]

OK thank you.

 

[Albertosaurus]

OK thank you.

I'm kinda stupid, and new. But how do i create a thread? I can't figure it out.

 

[BobW]

I'm kinda stupid, and new. But how do i create a thread? I can't figure it out.

You have to create an account here, verify it through your email address, then log in, then go to the forum you want, then click on the "Post new thread" button.

 

[NYAN]

That is not a bark scorpion.

 

[NYAN]

You have to create an account here, verify it through your email address, then log in, then go to the forum you want, then click on the "Post new thread" button.

They already have an account though.

 

[Albertosaurus]

That is not a bark scorpion.

Well, I only know the 3 desert species, and it looked most like a bark. Maybe a striped tail?

 

[NYAN]

Well, I only know the 3 desert species, and it looked most like a bark. Maybe a striped tail?

There are way more than just 3 desert species. I know of about 3 species of desert hairy alone. Bark scorpions have much more slender claws.

 

[Albertosaurus]

There are way more than just 3 desert species. I know of about 3 species of desert hairy alone. Bark scorpions have much more slender claws.

I don't know, looked pretty slender to me.

 

[BobW]

Bark scorpions are known to exist in Nevada; they seem to be in Las Vegas, but I'm not sure if they are as far north as Goldfield. It can get very cold here in Goldfield in the winter, down to 0 F. We also have a much larger type of scorpion here, which is bright yellow with a black back, maybe 6 inches long. Clealy a different species.
But this one in my photo here is only about 2 inches long. I had another one on my front door one night about 3 weeks ago, also only 2 inches long and all lightlbrown, the color of dirt.
My roommate was apparently stung by one a month ago while digging through pine needles to put in a watering system. He didn't realize it until the next morning, when his thumb was in extreme pain and there were red streaks up his arm. A month later and $1000 in medical bills later he is OK, but I want to eliminate the possibility of scorpions entering my house or garage.

 

[NYAN]

Bark scorpions are known to exist in Nevada; they seem to be in Las Vegas, but I'm not sure if they are as far north as Goldfield. It can get very cold here in Goldfield in the winter, down to 0 F. We also have a much larger type of scorpion here, which is bright yellow with a black back, maybe 6 inches long. Clealy a different species.
But this one in my photo here is only about 2 inches long. I had another one on my front door one night about 3 weeks ago, also only 2 inches long and all lightlbrown, the color of dirt.
My roommate was apparently stung by one a month ago while digging through pine needles to put in a watering system. He didn't realize it until the next morning, when his thumb was in extreme pain and there were red streaks up his arm. A month later and $1000 in medical bills later he is OK, but I want to eliminate the possibility of scorpions entering my house or garage.

Seal any gaps that they can enter through. That’s your best way to keep anything out. Bark scorpions are indeed in Nevada, especially Las Vegas. The one in the photo isn’t one though. Are you sure that your roommate was actually stung by a scorpion?

 

[BobW]

No, we're not 100% sure that it was a scorpion. It might have been a spider. We have seen a few black widows in the last couple of years. His thumb was swollen up purple, with extreme pain, and he had numbness and partial paralysis in his whole hand for a while, but all that is gone now and the wound is almost healed. But this scorpion in the photo is the third scorpion I've seen this year on the property, so it leads me to believe it might have been a scorpion that did it.

 

[NYAN]

No, we're not 100% sure that it was a scorpion. It might have been a spider. We have seen a few black widows in the last couple of years. His thumb was swollen up purple, with extreme pain, and he had numbness and partial paralysis in his whole hand for a while, but all that is gone now and the wound is almost healed. But this scorpion in the photo is the third scorpion I've seen this year on the property, so it leads me to believe it might have been a scorpion that did it.

You say numbness? Interesting. Have you read the symptoms of centruroides sculpturarus stings? Anyway, with spider bites, it isn’t a confirmed bite unless the spider was caught. I would apply the same rules to scorpions. Black widow bites produce cramping, especially in the abdominal region.

 

[brandontmyers]

It is hard to determine the species as it is in pretty poor shape. Looks to be either a juvenile Hadrurus or a Paruroctonus species. Neither of which of any medical concern.

 

[BobW]

You say numbness? Interesting. Have you read the symptoms of centruroides sculpturarus stings? Anyway, with spider bites, it isn’t a confirmed bite unless the spider was caught. I would apply the same rules to scorpions. Black widow bites produce cramping, especially in the abdominal region.

Thank you for your reply. We will never know exactly what stung or bit him as we didn't see it. He was digging through pine needles on the ground, from an Austrian Black Pine tree, a species which has stiff needles with sharp points. So in the process of digging his hands were poked by the needles, and there could have been a bite or sting which he just took to be another pine needle poking him.

But the next day, his thumb was swollen up purple and was very painful. He also had general numbmess and tingling throughout that hand, and a partial paralysis; he couldn't move any fingers for a while. But all that has gone away now, a month later. It seems to me these symptoms are consistent with scorpion sting. We don't think it was a black widow bite, because he had no cramping and no abdominal pain. This summer we have seen one black widow and three scorpions.

About a week after he was stung or bitten, I was approaching my front door in the evening, and on the outside of the door just above the knob was a live scorpion. We did not get a picture of it because my roommate killed it and smashed it immediately. But it was more slender than the one in my photo in this thread, and it was almost entirely light brown. I read that bark scorpions are good climbers, so I am guessing that the one on my door was a bark scoion, probably a youg one because it was so skinny.

I hope to never see any more, but if I do see any I will try to get a picture.

 

[BobW]

It is hard to determine the species as it is in pretty poor shape. Looks to be either a juvenile Hadrurus or a Paruroctonus species. Neither of which of any medical concern.

Thank you for the information.

 

[Smokehound714]

looks like a dead male paruroctonus boreus

 

[BobW]

looks like a dead male paruroctonus boreus

Thank you. I think you have identified it, though I'm not an expert, after looking a other photos, that is it. Northern Scorpion.

I still think the one on my front door was a young bark scorpion, as it was smaller and more slender and had little marking, pretty much all one color, and it coukd climb easily. That was the more dangerous one.