Scorpions in Costa Rica

[mkieff]

I was asked this question:

Hi there,
Wondering if you can help answer my question. We're considering moving to Costa Rica (living near San Jose but want to travel within the country) with small children and I'm wondering if there are any scorpion species in Costa Rica whose sting would be fatal or severely dangerous to adults and especially young childern? Thanks for any information you can share.

Can you guys help me answer it?

 

[tabor]

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/eycb/scorpions/ACCostaRica.htm

 

[pandinus]

Centruroides Limbatus would be of the most concern to me.

 

[reverendsterlin]

Ananteris platnicki, Centruroides bicolor, Centruroides koesteri, Centruroides limbatus, Centruroides margaritatus, Centruroides schmidti, Isometrus maculatus, Opisthacanthus valerioi, Tityus asthenes, Tityus cerroazul, Tityus dedoslargos, Tityus ocelote, Tityus pachyurus are all found in Costa Rica.

The opisthacanthus is the ONLY ONE NOT Buthidae it is Hemiscorpiidae. That said I doubt any will be too serious for adults but small children should probably avoid the rest. You may want to see Jan's site http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/ and review these for more information or google them if you like, and others will probably chime in on these.
Rev

 

[redhourglass]

Hi.

The joys of maintaining a scorpion website is answering the emails.

Be careful with how you word phrases, reply in proper and so fourth but based on the replys seen so fourth within here, I would stray away from topics of genus/species to more with being cautious, seek medical advice from doctors in the region and maybe provide pest control suggestions. Use your best judgement.

Costa Rica has been sampled/inventoried etc. through TTU Research Pub. back in day but when it comes down to taxonomy for the common layman person, they won't know the difference between 'families' of Hemiscorpiidae to Liochelidae or the difference between genera like Centruroides to Tityus.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Sinc. Chad

 

[skinheaddave]

I'm with Chad on this one -- no need for a taxonomy lesson. None of the scorpions are really bad, though there is potentially cause for concern if a child is stung by some of the Buthids.

I can't think, off-hand, of any hard data on sting reports from CR. I got stung by C.limbatus while there and experienced nothing but a bit of pain and some tingling. About an hour later I had forgotten about the sting. A friend of mine got tagged by C.margaritatus and got localized pain as well as a tinny taste in his mouth. That means he had a bit of a systemic reaction, which is when you start to worry a bit about the kids.

You should note that the reason we got stung is that we were grabbing these things with our hands. If you are cautious, look where you are going and shake your shoes/clothes out in the morning, you can avoid a lot of problems. There are many more things to be concerned about in CR, including several venomous snakes, the pigs, crocodilians, bullet ants, army ants, wasps the size of small dogs and oh so many stinging/impaling/rashifiying plants. I got attacked by a palm leaf while there and the pain was far more intense than the scorpion sting.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[XMX]

I was asked this question:



Can you guys help me answer it?

I am just curious.... Is this because you want to catch them, or stay out of harms way?

I'l love to buy one from Costa Rica ( I live in USA )

 

[Michiel]

None of the scorpions are really bad?

I definetly do not agree and I am quite surprised to read this comment from such a knowledgeable person about scorpions, Dave.

Tityus asthenes or Tityus pachyurus envenomations can result in severe symptoms in young children. Honestly, I do not know much about Centruroides, except for the most notorious ones (infamatus, noxius, suffusus ect).

Best advice to the layperson is to stay away from the scorpions, teach the children what a scorpion is, en learn them not to mess with them. Make sure the house and the garden are scorpionproof.

 

[skinheaddave]

... though there is potentially cause for concern if a child is stung by some of the Buthids.

.... That means he had a bit of a systemic reaction, which is when you start to worry a bit about the kids.

I definetly do not agree and I am quite surprised to read this comment from such a knowledgeable person about scorpions, Dave.

My apologies if I was not clear enough, but if you read the rest of my statement, including the two bits I've quoted above, I think it presents a pretty clear image. You aren't in Leiurus territory. You aren't as bad as some of the other Tityus sp. Nobody should be dying. If you are an adult it isn't a real threat but if you are a kid you have to be concerned.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Michiel]

My apologies if I was not clear enough, but if you read the rest of my statement, including the two bits I've quoted above, I think it presents a pretty clear image. You aren't in Leiurus territory. You aren't as bad as some of the other Tityus sp. Nobody should be dying. If you are an adult it isn't a real threat but if you are a kid you have to be concerned.

Cheers,
Dave

Hi Dave,
No need for apologies
You are right Dave, my primary response was about that part of the quote, reading the rest of your statement, the image is clear. I should have responsed to the whole quote. But still, for young children the CR Tityus spp. and Centruroides spp. can pose a serious threat to their health in case of envenomation. For healthy adults, it's a different story and envenomation is less likely to cause very serious problems.
Here is a quote from a (older paper, and not up to date, but still an indication) a paper about of a poisindex management, scorpions; Tityus species.

1.2 SPECIFIC SUBSTANCES
• A) CONSTITUENTS OF THE GROUP
• 1. Tityus asthenes
• 2. Tityus bahiensis
• 3. Tiyus cambridgei
• 4. Tityus clathratus
• 5. Tityus discrepans
• 6. Tityus fuehrmanni
• 7. Tityus nematochirus
• 8. Tityus pachyurus
• 9. Tityus serrulatus
• 10. Tityus stigmurus
• 11. Tityus tayrona
• 12. Tityus trinitatis
• 13. Tityus trivittatus

Like I said, the list is incomplete, but two of the Tityus spp. mentioned in the posts above, are in it. I can sens you the paper if you want.

Regards, Michiel

 

[reverendsterlin]

I wanted to add this from a report in American Arachnology Org's magazine concerning Centruroides sp venom
Venom includes sodium channel neurotoxins that provoke a clinical syndrome affecting nicotinic, muscarinic and neuromotor systems. Children in particular are susceptible to neurotoxicity, of sometimes life-threatening severity.