just saw scorps on Animal Planet's most extreme

JungleGuts

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It was on Animal Planets Most Extreme: Night Glowers or something and it was displaying how scorps glo in the black lights.(it will be nice when someone proves the reason that they do) although they talked about a few ideas on the show. Anyway for those who have seen it what kind of scorpions were they? There was some cool filming/closeups so if u havent seen it check it out some time.
 

kitty_b

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i always thought it was due to autofluorescence from chitin... same things that happens in some plants/fungi.
 

Mark Newton

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i always thought it was due to autofluorescence from chitin... same things that happens in some plants/fungi.
Maybe he's not referring to the mechanism which creates the phenomenon, but rather suggesting some possible selective advantage.
 

JungleGuts

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Maybe he's not referring to the mechanism which creates the phenomenon, but rather suggesting some possible selective advantage.
yes exactly, i mean its gotta have a use for something(besides making it easy for collectors to find them!)
 

Mark Newton

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yes exactly, i mean its gotta have a use for something(besides making it easy for collectors to find them!)
Lots of different opinions about the fluorescence. Personally myself I consider it an artefact of construction and believe it has no purpose. If it had selective pressure it would be a lot more varable than it is. It's too consistant across the taxa to be under any selective pressure. My 2 cents...:D
 

kitty_b

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Lots of different opinions about the fluorescence. Personally myself I consider it an artefact of construction and believe it has no purpose. If it had selective pressure it would be a lot more varable than it is. It's too consistant across the taxa to be under any selective pressure. My 2 cents...:D
i agree :)
 

Thaedion

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It was on Animal Planets Most Extreme: Night Glowers or something and it was displaying how scorps glo in the black lights.(it will be nice when someone proves the reason that they do) although they talked about a few ideas on the show. Anyway for those who have seen it what kind of scorpions were they? There was some cool filming/closeups so if u havent seen it check it out some time.
I was watching that too, it was interesting. I copied it and uploaded that segment to YouTube. Here it is. I didn't get it all but most of it. I'm not sure what types of scorpions are shown (So any ID to help us out would be appreciated), also from answering another thread I found this about AZ scorps.

"Three species of scorpions are commonly found in the Arizona Upland subdivision of the Sonoran Desert. They are the bark scorpion, Centruroides exilicauda, the striped tail or devil’s scorpion, Vaejovis spinigerus, and the giant or desert hairy scorpion, Hadrurus arizonensis.

Although more than 30 species of scorpions are found in Arizona, only the sting of the bark scorpion is considered to be truly life threatening."



[YOUTUBE]PEooYaa2Wak[/YOUTUBE]​


Thaedion ;)
 
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