SCORPION:
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about 49 N, except New Zealand and Antarctica. The northernmost part of the world where scorpions live in the wild is Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in the UK, where a small colony of Euscorpius flavicaudis has been resident since the 1860s.

Anatomy
The body of a scorpion is divided into two parts: the cephalothorax (also called the prosoma) and the abdomen (opisthosoma). The abdomen consists of the mesosoma and the metasoma.

Cephalothorax
The cephalothorax, also called the prosoma, is the scorpion's head, comprising the carapace, eyes, chelicerae (mouth parts), pedipalps (claws) and four pairs of walking legs. The scorpion's exoskeleton is thick and durable, providing good protection from predators. Scorpions have two eyes on the top of the head, and usually two to five pairs of eyes along the front corners of the head. The position of the eyes on the head and how far back or how far to the front has to do with the ground (soil) that the scorpion lives in, for example how hard or soft the ground is.

Metasoma

The metasoma, the scorpion's tail, comprises six segments (the first tail segment looks like a last mesosoman segment), the last containing the scorpion's anus and bearing the telson (the sting). The telson, in turn, consists of the vesicle, which holds a pair of venom glands, and the hypodermic aculeus, the venom-injecting barb.

On rare occasions, scorpions can be born with two metasomata (tails). Two-tailed scorpions are not a different species, merely a genetic abnormality.[

Reproduction
Most scorpions reproduce sexually, and most species have male and female individuals. However, some species, such as Hottentotta hottentotta, Hottentotta caboverdensis, Liocheles australasiae, Tityus columbianus, Tityus metuendus, Tityus serrulatus, Tityus stigmurus, Tityus trivittatus, and Tityus urugayensis, reproduce through parthenogenesis, a process in which unfertilized eggs develop into living embryos. Parthenogenic reproduction starts following the scorpion's final moult to maturity and continues thereafter.

Sexual reproduction is accomplished by the transfer of a spermatophore from the male to the female; scorpions possess a complex courtship and mating ritual to effect this transfer. Mating starts with the male and female locating and identifying each other using a mixture of pheromones and vibrational communication.. Once they have satisfied each other that they are of opposite sex and of the correct species, mating can commence.

The courtship starts with the male grasping the females pedipalps with his own; the pair then perform a "dance" called the "promenade deux". In reality this is the male leading the female around searching for a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore. The courtship ritual can involve several other behaviours such as juddering and a cheliceral kiss, in which the male's cheliceraeclawlike mouthpartsgrasp the female's in a smaller more intimate version of the male's grasping the female's pedipalps and in some cases injecting a small amount of his venom into her pedipalp or on the edge of her cephalothorax, probably as a means of pacifying the female.

When the male has identified a suitable location, he deposits the spermatophore and then guides the female over it. This allows the spermatophore to enter her genital opercula, which triggers release of the sperm, thus fertilizing the female. The mating process can take from 1 to 25+ hours and depends on the ability of the male to find a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore. If mating goes on for too long, the female may eventually lose interest, breaking off the process.

Once the mating is complete, the male and female will separate. The male will generally retreat quickly, most likely to avoid being cannibalized by the female, although sexual cannibalism is infrequent with scorpions.

Birth and development

Unlike the majority of arachnid species, scorpions are viviparous. The young are born one by one, and the brood is carried about on its mother's back until the young have undergone at least one moult. Before the first moult, scorplings cannot survive naturally without the mother, since they depend on her for protection and to regulate their moisture levels. Especially in species which display more advanced sociability (e.g. Pandinus spp.), the young/mother association can continue for an extended period of time. The size of the litter depends on the species and environmental factors, and can range from two to over a hundred scorplings. The average litter however, consists of around 8 scorplings.

The young generally resemble their parents. Growth is accomplished by periodic shedding of the exoskeleton (ecdysis). A scorpion's developmental progress is measured in instars (how many moults it has undergone). Scorpions typically require between five and seven moults to reach maturity. Moulting is effected by means of a split in the old exoskeleton which takes place just below the edge of the carapace (at the front of the prosoma). The scorpion then emerges from this split; the pedipalps and legs are first removed from the old exoskeleton, followed eventually by the metasoma. When it emerges, the scorpions new exoskeleton is soft, making the scorpion highly vulnerable to attack. The scorpion must constantly stretch while the new exoskeleton hardens to ensure that it can move when the hardening is complete. The process of hardening is called sclerotization. The new exoskeleton does not fluoresce; as sclerotization occurs, the fluorescence gradually returns.

Life and habits
Scorpions have quite variable lifespans and the actual lifespan of most species is not known. The age range appears to be approximately 425 years (25 years being the maximum reported life span in the species Hadrurus arizonensis). Lifespan of Hadogenes species in the wild is estimated at 2530 years.

Scorpions prefer to live in areas where the temperatures range from 20 C to 37 C (68 F to 99 F), but may survive from freezing temperatures to the desert heat. Scorpions of the genus Scorpiops living in high Asian mountains, bothriurid scorpions from Patagonia and small Euscorpius scorpions from middle Europe can all survive winter temperatures of about -25 C. In Repetek (Turkmenistan) there live seven species of scorpions (of which Pectinibuthus birulai is endemic) in temperatures which vary from 49,9 C to -31 C.

They are nocturnal and fossorial, finding shelter during the day in the relative cool of underground holes or undersides of rocks and coming out at night to hunt and feed. Scorpions exhibit photophobic behavior, primarily to evade detection by their predators such as birds, centipedes, lizards, mice, possums, and rats.

Scorpions are opportunistic predators of small arthropods and insects. They use their chelae (pincers) to catch the prey initially. Depending on the toxicity of their venom and size of their claws, they will then either crush the prey or inject it with neurotoxic venom. This will kill or paralyze the prey so the scorpion can eat it. Scorpions have a relatively unique style of eating using chelicerae, small claw-like structures that protrude from the mouth that are unique to the Chelicerata among arthropods. The chelicerae, which are very sharp, are used to pull small amounts of food off the prey item for digestion. Scorpions can only digest food in a liquid form; any solid matter (fur, exoskeleton, etc) is disposed of by the scorpion.

Venom
All known scorpion species possess venom. Scorpions use their venom to kill or paralyze their prey so that it can be eaten; in general it is fast-acting, allowing for effective prey capture.

Effects of scorpion stings on humans

Of the ca. 1500 scorpion species, the vast majority are only capable of producing a local reaction similar in scope and effect to a bee sting. Only around 50 species are known to produce venom that causes serious systemic effects in humans. Of these 50 species, half (mostly in the family Buthidae) produce enough venom to pose a lethal risk to humans.

Still, severe reactions and death from stings are very common, accounting for thousands of deaths a year worldwide, 10 times as many as snake bites. Most of the deaths attributed to scorpion stings occur in children, the elderly and the infirm in rural, agricultural areas of Africa, South America and Mexico, where the most venomous species are ubiquitous.

Scorpions rarely aggressively attack humans, but will often reflexively strike when they are handled, stepped on, or accidentally crushed in clothing, or placed in other situations they detect as threatening. Their ubiquity in certain rural areas and nocturnal, cold-blooded physiology often result in scorpions making their day burrows in human objects or dwellings. Footwear or clothing left outside overnight, thatched roofs, cracks in plaster or concrete, and wood and brush piles are all common shelter sites for scorpions.

Among the most dangerous are the deathstalker (L. quinquestriatus) and the fat-tailed scorpion (Androctonus), bearing the most potent venom and the highest human death toll in the Scorpion order (respectively). Both are native to the deserts and grasslands of North Africa and the Middle East, and account for nearly 75% of the worldwide deaths attributed to scorpion stings every year. Although death may occur, envenomations from one of the 50 most potent species generally causes unpleasant and temporarily debilitating systemic effects such as vomiting, cramps, blurred and wobbly vision, sensitivity to light, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing, and agitation.