# Scorpions in Spain??



## Richard_uk (May 12, 2004)

In 3 weeks I'm going on holiday to spain (Benidorm). I know its a long shot but are there any scorps I could go searching for?  I'm not familiar with Scorpion habitat so I'm not sure of what kind of places they hang out in the wild.  Surrounding the area are some arid looking mountains. I was maybe thinking they would be worth taking a look.  I have searched the web but can't find any relevant info.


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## fusion121 (May 12, 2004)

There are various species you could hope to collect mostly from the Euscorpius genera. In spain you'd find E. flavicaudis and E. italicus for sure. You'd also likely find buthus occitanus whose range extends into spain and southern france. There are many others Euscorpius species in europe but I don't know their exact distribution, at any rate you'd be bound to find a few. Apparently the best palce to look for buthus occitanus is in sandy scrubland, Euscorpius species are fond of living in stone walls, especially dry stone ones.


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## G. Carnell (May 12, 2004)

hmm, you will need a lot of patience, especially in the dryer months, as 9/10 rocks and logs have 0% wildlife underneath them.

but look and you will find- expecially B.occitanus, i saw reports somewhere about a.australis in gibraltar, but this might be a fake, though it could be poissible, if they came over by boat
look under logs and rocks, and you will also find Lycosa spiders, and most certainly black widow spiders


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## Richard_uk (May 12, 2004)

It seems there will be plenty of interesting wildlife to look at even if there are no scorps then.  The mountain areas are sandy scrubland. These were what made me think of scorpion territory. During the trip we get to do the downhill bike ride. We get driven to the top of the mountainous area, get given bikes and can then take our time enjoying the scenery rolling down all the way! I thought I might use this trip as an opportunity to go a hunting!


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## fusion121 (May 12, 2004)

Another good tactic is to go hunting after its rained, that often brings out a higher then average number of scorpions looking for prey. Good luck.


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## Richard_uk (May 12, 2004)

I have found references of B. occitanus being found in the mountains of costa blanca.  Since Benidorm is located in the costa blanca things are looking good!


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## Wade (May 12, 2004)

I can't tell you anything about Spain in particular (but I'm interested as my wife has friends there and we may visit in the next year or so), but I can give you a handy tip about collecting in arid areas in general.

I've had a lot of luck collecting scorpions (as well as centipedes, solifugids, beetles and more) in the American southwest underneath of semi-dry cow manure. If there's any areas being used for grazing cows and sheep near where you're going, check them out. These "patties" become oasis (whats the plural for oasis?) for all sorts of animals seeking a humid retreat. The really fresh piles won't be good for much, but the ones that are dry enough to flip over (but moist enough to still be attractive to bugs) could be very productive.

Wade


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## Makai (May 12, 2004)

I'm from spain (very close to benidorm, BTW) and what you can found here is those arizonensis scorpions (yellow with little hair) I don't know the latin name sorry. If you fancy a beer call me man


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## G. Carnell (May 12, 2004)

h.arizonensis is from america....

b.occitanus is from spain,  you will find it is "slightly" more toxic


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