true or false

death stinger

Arachnopeon
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Aug 6, 2010
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15
true or false

general rule among all scorpions the smaller the pincer the deadly the venom
deathstalker is the 3rd venomous scorpion in the world
 

Nomadinexile

Arachnoking
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F and F

While not an expert on venom, I think I can give you something to work with here.

The Chela or pincers, are not a good way to know the venom level of a scorpion. For one, are we talking bulk or length? There are some highly venomous long fingered scorpions. Secondly, there are many scorpions with small chela that are very mild. Large bulbous chela generally show a mildly venomous scorpion, but there may be exemptions. There certainly are for the thin chela'd ones. That is not something I would use as a rule. The only way to know how venomous a specie is, is to be stung (bad), or to know the species and the current research on it's toxicity.

As for the death stalkers, as I understand, they have one the highest Lethal Dose value of any scorpion. However, they do not inject as much venom as many other highly venomous species, so that while they have highly toxic venom, they are not the most "" to us because of the amount they can inject. I think they are still in the top ten, but I think they are a little further down the list.

Hope this helped.

Here is a list of 10 showing LD value, it was the third hit googling Most Venomous Scorpions.

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~chuaeecc/venom/venom2.htm
 

snappleWhiteTea

Arachnoangel
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vaejoiv sp. have thin chela pretty often, and are far from lethal. i think the thin pincer rule is real general, basically emps have huge claws and centruroides sp. have slender claws.

love the music on that site nomad ;)
 

BeakerTheMighty

Arachnosquire
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As snapple said Its kind of a general rule that most people who are unfamiliar with scorps use for wild ones. It groups in MANY "harmless" species as dangerous, but it does accurately describe most dangerous ones (because all but one that I am aware of are buthids which are frequently characterized by elongated and thinner manus and tarsus though overall chelae width can vary. As for the "deadliest" venom L. quenquestriatus venom has a number of LD50's reported, the common area looking to be about .25 to .30 or .35 mg:kg though Hassan 1984 puts it as low as .16. However, if the .33 value given in G.G Habermehl 1981 is accepted, it would mean that 2 Androctonus species, as well as C. noxius and Odontobuthus doriae (Hassan 1984) all may have lower LD50's than L. quinquestriatus. In terms of actual fatalaties the amount of venom, age, weight, and overall health of the patient will also play a role. If I remember correctly however, the highest annual fatality counts belong to Tityus or Centuroides purely because of the disproportionate number of stings people recieve each year from them.
 

death stinger

Arachnopeon
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Aug 6, 2010
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15
i am just wondering why is it the genral rule is somtimes applicable to some socrpions(like the yellow fat tail scorpion, deathstalker also the arizona bark scorpion)
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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it's an ok rule of thumb. it's not absolute, but it gives you a bit of a guide

of course, if i was in an area with high caliber scorpions i would just avoid them all if i wasn't sure what was dangerous and what wasn't
 

Aztek

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There's a bunch of scorpions with thin chela that aren't too toxic.

Although I can't think of any scorpion with a thick-boxing glove chela that are highly toxic.

Hmmmm
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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in a sitch like this, false positives are much preferable to false negativves =P


hemiscorpius lepturus have pretty thick claws, all things considered. and wimpy little tails.
 

Michiel

Arachnoking
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in a sitch like this, false positives are much preferable to false negativves =P


hemiscorpius lepturus have pretty thick claws, all things considered. and wimpy little tails.

Exactly.
That general rule is for laymen, and not for the average AB member. You guys know more about scorpions than the average person, so you should not use this "general rule", because it has a lot of exceptions, frankly it is bad rule of thumb, like "red on yellow, kill a fellow" only works for North American coral snakes (not for South American)....From the top of my head, in South American corals (Micrurus sp.) there are two bands of black in the wider yellow bands.
 

NevularScorpion

Arachnoangel
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oh wait let me rephrase my last sentence :) "I think that scorpion with big thick tails and long tails even if its skinny can be considered highly toxic to humans"

In addition, I also agree to Michiel and cacoseraph but in an emergency situation where your too occupied to think, just follow my quote as a rule of thumb might save your life lol
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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If I were to encounter an unknown species of scorpion in the wild I'd apply the rule fat tail/skinny claws = dangerously venomous, skinny tail/fat claws = not dangerously venomous. It's a good enough rule of thumb when you don't have any other knowledge and is also helpful to people who don't know scorps at all.

Of course, if I encountered an unknown species of scorp in the wild I'd also apply the rule "Do not (NOT) risk envenomation by an unknown scorpion species, period. Ever." Which would tend to overshadow the first rule.
 

saxman146

Arachnobaron
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Of course, if I encountered an unknown species of scorp in the wild I'd also apply the rule "Do not (NOT) risk envenomation by an unknown scorpion species, period. Ever." QUOTE]

Vs. saying .....OMG I wonder what THIS one feels like. :p
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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i was collecting when i first started the hobby and i got stung by a scorpion with fairly little claws. i can tell you... it was not a comfortable hour or two when i was in the middle of nowhere racking my brain as to what was dangerously venomous in the area.

as it turns out it was just a vaejovid... but it really impressed upon me the need to KNOW about the bugs that could be dangerous in any areas you are collecting in. i wasted that hour or two sitting quietly in the shade trying to keep my heart rate and other metabolic processes depressed while doing some thinking... when i could have been catching more bugs =P
 

AzJohn

Arachnoking
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i was collecting when i first started the hobby and i got stung by a scorpion with fairly little claws. i can tell you... it was not a comfortable hour or two when i was in the middle of nowhere racking my brain as to what was dangerously venomous in the area.

as it turns out it was just a vaejovid... but it really impressed upon me the need to KNOW about the bugs that could be dangerous in any areas you are collecting in. i wasted that hour or two sitting quietly in the shade trying to keep my heart rate and other metabolic processes depressed while doing some thinking... when i could have been catching more bugs =P
Probably the best thing when out collecting. Know what's around you then the size of the claw or size of the tail shouldn't be an issue.
 
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