Fattail scorpion
Encyclopedia
Fattail scorpion or fat-tailed scorpion is the common name given to scorpion
s of the genus
Androctonus, which is one of the most dangerous groups of scorpions species
in the world. They are found throughout the semi-arid and arid regions of the Middle-East and Africa
. They are a moderate sized scorpion, attaining lengths of 10 cm (just under 4 in). Their common name is derived from their distinctly fat metasoma, or tail, while the latin name originates from greek and means "man killer". Their venom contains powerful neurotoxin
s and is especially potent. Stings from Androctonus species are known to cause several human deaths each year. Several pharmaceutical companies manufacture an antivenom for treatment of Androctonus envenomations.
and West Africa
, the Middle East
and eastwards to the Hindukush region. Countries where Androctonus species live include: Morocco
, Algeria
, Tunisia
, Libya
, Egypt
, Togo
, Israel
, India
, Lebanon
, Turkey
, Jordan
, Saudi Arabia
, Yemen
, Oman
, United Arab Emirates
, Qatar
, Kuwait
, Iraq
, Iran
, Afghanistan
, Bahrain
and Pakistan
.
andras (άνδρας), meaning "man" and kteinein (κτείνειν), meaning "to kill". Crassicauda means fat-tailed, from the Latin
crassus meaning "thick" or "fat" and cauda, meaning "tail". Androctonus crassicauda is widespread throughout the Middle East and its name means "fat-tailed man-killer". Similarly, the Latin word for South is australis, from which Androctonus australis, "southern man-killer", derives.
Taxonomic reclassification is ongoing, sources tend to disagree on the number of species.
may not entirely cover. There is also potential legal liability
if someone other than the owner is stung. Depending on the jurisdiction in which the keeper lives, some form of licence or insurance policy may be required in order to possess a dangerous scorpion. In some jurisdictions, possession of a dangerous scorpion is illegal. Extra precautions must be taken to ensure that the scorpion cannot escape. Clearly, Androctonus scorpions should never be handled under any circumstances. Its main diet in captivity consists of cockroaches
, grasshopper
s, or cricket
s. Scorpions will generally try to kill and eat anything which moves and is smaller than themselves. In order to simulate the desert environment, the enclosure used to keep the scorpion in must be kept at a temperature of between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees and 86 degrees Fahrenheit).
The band Acrassicauda
takes its name from the scorpion.
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
s of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Androctonus, which is one of the most dangerous groups of scorpions species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the world. They are found throughout the semi-arid and arid regions of the Middle-East and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. They are a moderate sized scorpion, attaining lengths of 10 cm (just under 4 in). Their common name is derived from their distinctly fat metasoma, or tail, while the latin name originates from greek and means "man killer". Their venom contains powerful neurotoxin
Neurotoxin
A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
s and is especially potent. Stings from Androctonus species are known to cause several human deaths each year. Several pharmaceutical companies manufacture an antivenom for treatment of Androctonus envenomations.
Geographic range
Androctonus is widespread in NorthNorth Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and eastwards to the Hindukush region. Countries where Androctonus species live include: Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
, United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
Etymology
A rough English translation of the name Androctonus is "man-killer", from the GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
andras (άνδρας), meaning "man" and kteinein (κτείνειν), meaning "to kill". Crassicauda means fat-tailed, from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
crassus meaning "thick" or "fat" and cauda, meaning "tail". Androctonus crassicauda is widespread throughout the Middle East and its name means "fat-tailed man-killer". Similarly, the Latin word for South is australis, from which Androctonus australis, "southern man-killer", derives.
Taxonomy
- Androctonus afghanus Lourenço & Qi, 2006
- Androctonus aleksandrplotkini Lourenço & Qi, 2007
- Androctonus amoreuxi (AudouinJean Victoire Audouinthumb|Victor AudouinJean Victoire Audouin , sometimes Victor Audouin, was a French naturalist, an entomologist, ornithologist and malacologist.Audouin was born in Paris and studied medicine...
, 1826) - Androctonus australis (LinnaeusCarolus LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
, 1758) - Androctonus baluchicus (PocockReginald Innes PocockReginald Innes Pocock F.R.S. was a British zoologist.Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's School, Oxford. He received tutoring in zoology from Sir Edward Poulton, and was allowed...
, 1900) - Androctonus bicolor EhrenbergChristian Gottfried EhrenbergChristian Gottfried Ehrenberg , German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist, was one of the most famous and productive scientists of his time.- Early collections :...
, 1828 - Androctonus crassicauda (OlivierGuillaume-Antoine OlivierGuillaume-Antoine Olivier was a French entomologist.He was the author of Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des Insectes and Le Voyage dans l'Empire Othoman, l'Égypte et la Perse . He was a close friend of Johan Christian Fabricius and a patron of Pierre André Latreille.-References:...
, 1807) - Androctonus dekeyseri Lourenço, 2005
- Androctonus eburneus (Pallary, 1928)
- Androctonus finitimus (Pocock, 1897)
- Androctonus gonneti Vachon, 1948
- Androctonus hoggarensis (Pallary, 1929)
- Androctonus liouvillei (Pallary, 1924)
- Androctonus maelfaiti Lourenço, 2005
- Androctonus mauritanicus (Pocock, 1902)
- Androctonus maroccanusAndroctonus maroccanusAndroctonus maroccanus is a species of scorpion, belonging to the family Buthidae. Along with other members of the genus Androctonus it is also known by the collective vernacular name fat-tailed scorpion. A. maroccanus is endemic to the Atlantic coast of central Morocco.- Taxonomy :The species was...
Lourenço, Ythier & Leguin, 2009 - Androctonus sergenti (Vachon, 1948)
- Androctonus togolensis Lourenço, 2008
In captivity
Despite the inherent risks with keeping such a dangerously venomous species in captivity, Androctonus scorpions are frequently found in the exotic animal trade - A. amoreuxi and A. australis being the most commonly available. As with any dangerous scorpion, a potential Androctonus-keeper should think very carefully before acquiring one because a sting may have serious consequences which extend beyond the immediate risks of injury or death. For example, there can be an expensive bill for emergency medical care that the owner's health insuranceHealth insurance
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is...
may not entirely cover. There is also potential legal liability
Legal liability
Legal liability is the legal bound obligation to pay debts.* In law a person is said to be legally liable when they are financially and legally responsible for something. Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law. See Strict liability. Under English law, with the passing of the Theft...
if someone other than the owner is stung. Depending on the jurisdiction in which the keeper lives, some form of licence or insurance policy may be required in order to possess a dangerous scorpion. In some jurisdictions, possession of a dangerous scorpion is illegal. Extra precautions must be taken to ensure that the scorpion cannot escape. Clearly, Androctonus scorpions should never be handled under any circumstances. Its main diet in captivity consists of cockroaches
Cockroaches
A cockroach is an insect of the order Blattaria. "Cockroach" may also refer to:*Cockroach , a 2001 album by Danger Danger*Cockroach , a 2008 novel by Rawi Hage...
, grasshopper
Grasshopper
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...
s, or cricket
Cricket (insect)
Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
s. Scorpions will generally try to kill and eat anything which moves and is smaller than themselves. In order to simulate the desert environment, the enclosure used to keep the scorpion in must be kept at a temperature of between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees and 86 degrees Fahrenheit).
In popular culture
The vicious mutated scorpions infesting the fictional English towns of Long Point and Port Pendall in Michael R. Linaker's horror novels Scorpion and Scorpion: Second Generation are said to belong to the A. australis species. (^Published by New English Library, ISBN 0-450-05363-6)The band Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda is an Iraqi thrash metal band formed in 2001. It is often credited as being the first heavy metal group to emerge from Iraq. The band consists of three Arab members and one Assyrian . The band formed and played concerts under the regime of Saddam Hussein...
takes its name from the scorpion.
External links
- The Scorpion Files: Buthidae
- Photo of Androctonus habitat in Kuwait
- Treatment of Androctonus stings at eMedicineEMedicineeMedicine is an online clinical medical knowledge base that was founded in 1996 by Scott Plantz and Richard Lavely, two medical doctors. The website is searchable by keyword and consists of approximately 6,800 articles, each of which is associated with one of 62 clinical subspecialty textbooks...
- Treatment of Androctonus stings