by shadowfoot » Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:35 pm
Yes, Jonathan Leeming's book is good for tne more frequently found scorpions. There are only a few genus of scorpions in SA so it's easy to identify the genus but the species is another ball game. First thing is to check the size of the pincers and tail, if it has small pincers and a fat tail then you know it falls in the Buthidae family or the medically significant family. A few are easier to identify like Hadogenes species or flat rock scorpions and Opistophthalmus species or burrowing scorpions, they usually have large pincers and thinner tails. If the scorpion found is on the large side, more than 10cm from tip of tail to beginning of the mouth parts, and has a very thick tail and thin pincers then it's a Parabuthus species and should be careful as they have a potent venom.
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