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Am I correct? A friend of mine found this in his yard outside Phoenix.
Arizona ??Desert Hairy Scorpion - Hadrurus arizonensis
- Thread starter Kathy
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crappy pics. butit looks like an H. spadix to me....
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Well, isn't h. spadix the species of the genus hadrurus? Sorry the pics are bad, that is all I have. If you click on it you can see a bigger picture.
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H. arizonensis. Spadix don't have that crescent of yellow.
X2................
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Ha, so I am correct. Oh, I feel so proud of myself! 
Aaron, if you read this, those scorpions aren't so bad.
Aaron, if you read this, those scorpions aren't so bad. 
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Great job Kathy your first ID! these guys wont kill ya, but its been described as similar to a niiiiiiiiiice hard whack with a hammer. makes you pine for the electric shock and numb ache of Centruroides. no damaging internal effects though. just hurts like hell.
John
John
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I've been tagged and would not even cosider it close to how I felt with a C. sculpt sting.
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maybe its different reactions for different people then. my C sculpt sting was probably one of the least painful i ever had.
John
John
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I suppose it also depends on how the scorpion decides to tag you.
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Cool scorp there Kathy! You're getting better and better with Scorps!
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i know sometimes with snakes they will "dry" bite without useing any venom on rare occasions. can scorpions do the same? sting but only inject a small amount of venom?
Yes, they can do that.
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H. arizonensis for sure. I saw a lot of shapes and size whens I was looking for them
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scorpions in addition to regulating the type of venom they can inject, can also determine the kind of venom they inject. The venom the scorpion uses to paralyse and kill its prey is a very complex protien system that shuts down the ion channels of the nervous system, thereby blocking impulses from traveling along these channels through the body, this cocktail requires a great deal of energy from the body to maufacture. since it is such an expensive resource, scoprions are very conservative on the amount of this venom they use and are not likely to waste it. That is why scorpions also contain another cocktail known by many as prevenom. prevenom is used for defense and is much cheaper for the corpions body to manufacture as it is a much simpler complex that attacks seratonin channels and is designed not to paralyze and aid in predigestion of prey, but rather to disarm and cause pain to would be predators. it is not nearly as lethal as the true venom, but it does cause a great deal of pain to the would be attacker. in addition to being able to regulate the volume or concentration of fluid injected, the scorpion is also able to mix these two venom cocktails as it sees fit. so a sting can very in pain and medicall significance based off of the person's reaction to the sting, the amount of venom injected by the scorpion, the site of the sting on the body, and also very much on the mixture of venoms the scorpion chooses to inject (ie wether it injects a high volume of the dangerous and paralysing venom, or the less potent but still excruciatingly painful prevenom).
John
John
Do all scorpions have a "kill" venom and a "pre" venom? I've heard about this but I thought it was just a couple species that could do stuff like that. I would think that the availability of venom types would vary a lot from species to species.
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as far as i know all scorpions have this abilty. a better way to explain rather than to say there are two different types would be to compare it to cooking. The scorpion isnt actually using two different glands to create two different venoms, the type part reffers to concentration and intended use. the scorpion's venom is made up of several different complex protiens and molecules. certain protiens and molecules as stated before, are for prey capture and are expensive, but there are other components that are used to cause pain and discmofort that are cheap. They are both found in the scorpions venom, but if wanting to deter a predator, the scorpion holds back on using the killing components, and instead mixes up a dose of painful chemicals. think of the scorpions poison glands as a spice rack, and the dose injected by the scorpion as a pot of chili. depending on what the scorpion is wanting to do with the chili, it can either decide to use a powerful and expensive ingredient like saffron to accomplish a task and ensure a proper meal, or if it just wants to get a predator off its back there is no point to wasting a valuable and expensive spice so it will just load up the chili with a bunch of cayene pepper to make the dose incredibly painful and save its costly spice for later. i hope this explains it a little better. they arent so much making two different venoms, but rather controlling the amount of specific ingredients they want to use in a certain dose. when you think about the ramifications of the fact that it can consciously preform such complex chemistry it really is awe inspiring.
John
That is really impressive. If you don't mind, I have another question for you (I could probably spend a bunch of time researching but your an awesome resource and this is a scorpion forum!).
Your description seems to imply (if I'm understanding correctly) that the scorpion is synthesizing the toxins as they are being injected. I always assumed (oh assumptions) that the venom was sythesized a little bit more passively and that it got stored in the stinger, waiting to be used. The idea of a scorpion synthesizing a dose of venom in the moments before using it seems extra impressive to me!
Or am I wrong and the scorpion has several "storage" sacks in its stinger and it squeezes out a particular blend of ready made toxins?
Your description seems to imply (if I'm understanding correctly) that the scorpion is synthesizing the toxins as they are being injected. I always assumed (oh assumptions) that the venom was sythesized a little bit more passively and that it got stored in the stinger, waiting to be used. The idea of a scorpion synthesizing a dose of venom in the moments before using it seems extra impressive to me!
Or am I wrong and the scorpion has several "storage" sacks in its stinger and it squeezes out a particular blend of ready made toxins?