Name
Buthus
scorpion,
Framing
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpiones
Genus: Buthus
Habitat
Terrestrial, epigeous and on bushes.
Feeding
Carnivorous (arthropods; some species of Buthus can hunt small reptiles); Cannibalism is very common.
Distribution
The genus Buthus has a wide distribution throughout southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The species B. montanus is endemic to the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula.
Conservation status
Not evaluated
Additional information
Body divided into pro-, meso- and metasoma; in the prosoma we find a pair of chelated chelicerae (the last two knuckles forming a clamp), a pair of pedipalps ending in a clamp and four pairs of walking legs. Mesosome with seven metameres, and the metasoma with five ring-shaped metameres and the telson, equipped with a nail connected to the venom gland
Additional information
Bibliography
- Lourenço, W.R. & Vachon, M. (2004). Considérations sur le genre Buthus Leach, 1815 en Espagne, et description de deux nouvelles espèces (Scorpiones, Buthidae). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, 9, 81-94. Accesible en: http://sea-entomologia.org/Publicaciones/RevistaIbericaAracnologia/RIA09/R09-009-081.pdf
- Polis, G.A. (1991). The biology of Scorpions. Standford University Press, Standford (CA, EE.UU.) (Disponible en Biblioteca de Ciencias).
- Sánchez-Piñero, F., Urbano-Tenorio, F. & Martín-García, F.J. (2013). Foraging of Buthus occitanus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) on shrub branches in an arid area of southeastern Spain. Journal of Arachnology, 41, 88-90. Accesible en: http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v41_n1/arac-41-1-88.pdf
- Sánchez-Piñero, F. & Urbano-Tenorio, F. (2016). Watch out for your neighbor: Climbing onto shrubs is related to risk of cannibalism in the scorpion Buthus cf. occitanus. PLoS ONE 11(9): e0161747. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0161747
- Sousa, P., Arnedo, M.A. & Harris, D.J. (2017). Updated catalogue and taxonomic notes on the Old-World scorpion genus Buthus Leach, 1815 (Scorpiones, Buthidae). ZooKeys, 686, 15-84. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.686.12206