Scorpion Identification: the details to consider

[Phendy]

Hi, I'm trying to gather general info on scorpion identification, and so far have encountered some contradictions/renaming/species-adjustments and such, So I assume these are expected as generally scorpions are not yet extensively studied enough, compared to plants and other animal classes. but depending on the book or video I gain info from, the details that are given attention are different. as an example I see someone posting a scorpion photo and asking for ID, and then an expert instantly names the family, then same expert or another comes with a specific name, or at most two names, which one is correct @ %99 certainty. and when asked why, he/she answers because the tail is longer than sth, or because the fingers are dark, or body is hairy, or say there's line on back etc.

So it's clear that the number of things to consider is at least a dozen. and that's the question:
Can we compile a list of details to pay attention to, when trying to identify scorpions?
[if ordered or grouped by level of importance in identification process, that'd be great]

I know these are (or could be) considered:
total body size, color, tail size, hairiness, pincers size, general body form, number of eyes(?), country of observation, season of observation, number of offsprings(?), the living place (inside hole, on ground, near water, on trees, ...)

 

[Richard McJimsey]

Here is an example of the description of a species of scorpion. This paper is not as comprehensive as most, but it will give you a general idea. It is also a species from Iran.
I would not rely on almost anything you hear from hobbyists regarding identifying scorpions, always refer to academia for accurate information.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

There are many different families/genera that will all have different features to pay attention to. So when identifying a Scorpionidae species, I might look at different features compared to a Buthidae species. In general though, here are some of the features that can give you an idea of what you're looking at.

General body shape, coloration and granulation;
Chelae: shape, granulation, size;
Metasoma: shape of segments, length, granulation, presence of ridges (same with mesosoma), coloration of certain segments (the last segment before the telson is sometimes telling);
Telson: color, shape, size, presence or absence of second spike.

 

[poizoni]

When beginning to identify scorpions, it first helps to look through images of different families and genera to see obvious differences. After you have enough experience identifying based on the general appearance, you can narrow things down using research papers for those groups.

Different scorpions have different diagnostic characteristics that will be useful for identification, so a vague list of features is somewhat useless. For example, to identify most Euscorpius to species you need to look at the trichobothrial patterns, while for Parabuthus you should look at the carinae on the metasoma. That technique is generally more useful when you have access to physical specimens though. On the internet, diagnostic features are often not visible in images that people post. In such cases, geography is extremely helpful for getting a general ID. Again, scientific publications usually have helpful distribution maps to assist.

Color patterns are typically regarded as amateurish for ID (mainly when they're the only trait assessed), but they can be invaluable sometimes. There are some scorpions species that have distinct, memorable patterns -- e.g. Tityus stigmurus, Centruroides vittatus, Lychas scutilis, Uroplectes variegatus, etc...

A helpful platform to learn identification is iNaturalist, which is where I spend most of my time