Size: Length: 3-4 inches (80-110mm)
Weight: 0.03-0.09oz(1.0-2.5g)
Body and Coloration: The deathstalker scorpion has a light yellow body with horizontal grayish-brown stripes on the cephalothorax and abdomen. They have one pair of eyes on the top of their heads and 2-5 pairs on the frontal corners on both sides.
A dark vertical line extends from the head to the beginning of the tail. Their carapace and tail are freckled with dark brown spots. And the stinger is usually black.
One of the cuticle layers contains a certain type of molecule that absorbs wavelengths of UV light that makes them glow in the dark.
Can you survive a deathstalker scorpion?
While a sting from this scorpion is extraordinarily painful, it normally would not kill a healthy adult human. However, young children, the elderly, or infirm (such as those with a heart condition and those who are allergic) are at much greater risk.
What happens if you get stung by a Deathstalker scorpion?
Victims of a deathstalker scorpion sting will experience extreme pain at the injection site and swelling. Next, headaches may onset with nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea, and eventually, the venom may lead to fluid retention in the lungs and convulsions.
What scorpion has killed the most humans?
Although slightly less toxic, Androctonus is responsible for far more human casualties than the deathstalker. The Tunisian fat-tailed scorpion (A. australis) alone is responsible for 80% of stings and 90% of deaths from scorpion stings in North Africa.
How venomous are deathstalker scorpions?
Behavior. Death stalker scorpions are known to be defensive and are extremely venomous which can be fatal for victims that aren’t in the best of health.
What’s So Special About the Deathstalker Scorpion?
The deathstalker scorpion has been credited with saving lives. Learn how this obscure arachnid from the deserts of the Middle East and Northern Africa rocketed to media stardom.
The deathstalker (Leiurus quinquestriatus) is a species of scorpion, a member of the family Buthidae. It is also known as the Palestine yellow scorpion， Omdurman scorpion, and Naqab desert scorpion, as well as by many other colloquial names, which generally originate from the commercial captive trade of the animal. To eliminate confusion, especially important with potentially dangerous species, the scientific name is normally used to refer to them. The name Leiurus quinquestriatus roughly translates into English as “five-striped smooth-tail”.In 2014, the subspecies L. q. hebraeus was separated from it and elevated to its own species Leiurus hebraeus.[6] Other species of the genus Leiurus are also often referred to as “deathstalkers”. Leiurus quinquestriatus is yellow, and 30–77 millimetres (1.2–3.0 in) long, with an average of 58 mm (2.3 in).
Its venom has been called the most expensive liquid in the world — also one of the deadliest. Does the deathstalker scorpion live up to the international hype, or is it just another victim of popular science exaggeration?As it turns out, its reputation is probably deserved. But it’s been amplified by a generous dose of PR magic and some sloppy reporting.
Known until relatively recently as the yellow scorpion, the deathstalker was just a desert-dwelling arthropod, picking off insects with its lethal sting and spending the rest of its time hiding under rocks. Then, the use of its venom in a series of remarkable cancer treatment innovations catapulted it to greater renown.
Likely because the name “yellow scorpion” isn’t particularly attention-grabbing, it eventually became known as the deathstalker instead. A deadly scorpion saving lives? Click. So far, so good. Nothing wrong with a sprinkling of stardust in the name of promoting science literacy.
Venom
The deathstalker’s venom is extremely potent, with an LD50 value of 0.25 mg/kg. It contains neurotoxins like Charybdotoxin, Chlorotoxin, Scyllatoxin, and all three types of Agitoxins.
The sting from this scorpion is immensely painful. However, a healthy adult would not die from it. Still, they will experience swelling, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. Their sting could be fatal to heart patients, children, and the elderly.
Mating and Reproduction
Like every other scorpion species, deathstalker males perform the “promenade à deux”, a courtship ritual where they hold the females by their pincers and lead them into a dance-like walk. The females choose their partner at the end of the “promenade à deux”.
The average gestating period is around 185 days, but sometimes it spans between 122-277 days. The number of offspring ranges from 35-87 scorpions.
These scorpions are viviparous. That means the females incubate the eggs inside their bodies. The scorplings are born relatively large. The newborn scorpions look exactly like the adults, only smaller in size.
Range and Distribution
Deathstalkers are found mainly in North Africa and the Middle East. Their distribution extends through Algeria, the Arabian Desert, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Oman, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, Yemen, and the territories of the Sahara desert. They can also be seen in parts of Central Asia, including Kazakhstan as well as the Thar Desert in northwestern India.
Habitat
They typically prefer deserts and semi-deserts that do not have sand dune systems, mesic habitats, and dry scrubland regions. However, they tend to seek out humid areas from time to time.
Their desert habitats have harsh climates, with temperatures reaching up to 43.5°C approximately.
Diet
Like every other scorpion, deathstalkers usually consume centipedes, earthworms, spiders, crickets, and other scorpions. They are even known to eat other deathstalkers as well. These scorpions are rarely known to drink water; mostly, they absorb fluids from their prey’s bodies.
Behavior
- The deathstalker scorpions are nocturnal creatures. Being active at night helps them to avoid the excruciating heat of the sun.
- During the daytime, they hide from the sun taking shelter under the rocks and in caves. They usually burrow under rocks roughly up to 20 cm. But sometimes, they may shelter in abandoned burrows of other creatures.
- While fighting off their enemies, these scorpions use both their pincers and sting.
- They are highly aggressive.
- These scorpions are known never to leave their territories.
Lifespan
Little is known about the longevity of this creature. However, its close relatives live up to 4-25 years.
Adaptations
- Compared to other scorpions, the deathstalkers have thin legs and pincers. These slender legs help the scorpion move along the desert floor with much agility. This allows them to move faster than most other creatures around them.
- Their strong exoskeleton prevents them from being left vulnerable to predators.
- Because of having poor eyesight, the deathstalker relies on their sense of touch to detect their prey and enemies.
- They have the ability to slow down their metabolism, which helps them to survive on a small amount of food as well as on little oxygen. Despite having their metabolism lowered, they can move with the usual agility.
- The deathstalkers lose fluids through evaporation in their lungs. Although, due to having high resistance to gas exchange, they can suppress this process.
Why Is Scorpion Venom So Expensive?
Then, the press got its scorpions scrambled. “By volume, scorpion venom is one of the most precious materials in the world. It would cost $39 million to produce a gallon of it,” Stanford University chemist Richard Zare said in 2019. Popular coverage soon claimed that this figure was specific to deathstalker venom. But Zare was actually discussing an unrelated study on the applications of venom from the Diplocentrus melici scorpion, which is found in Mexico. He was referring, in any case, to scorpion venom more broadly.
“If it was the most expensive liquid in the world, I’d be driving a Ferrari and not an old Ford truck,” says Nathaniel Fränk of MToxins Venom Lab in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, one of the world’s few suppliers of pure, research-grade venom.
Scorpion venom is costly to produce because it requires painstaking and risky labor, Fränk says, resulting in only a tiny output from each scorpion. While the venom does go for a premium, that’s true of venom from all scorpions.
Compared to other species, deathstalkers aren’t particularly rare. Easy to maintain and breed in captivity, they happily subsist in tanks and feed on crickets. Despite the high price, venom labs typically only purchase tiny quantities of venom — so it isn’t very profitable. The rest goes toward nutraceutical and antivenom applications, which are far cheaper due to volume discounts.
Deathstalker Scorpion Scam
Unfortunately, the misunderstanding that deathstalker venom was a goldmine waiting to be exploited led to a scam industry based in the Middle East. Misguided entrepreneurs gathered hundreds of scorpions and bred thousands more in the hopes of selling their venom to labs.
In addition to depleting populations in some areas, these efforts have typically ended in financial ruin: Reliable labs only buy or sell venom if it’s been harvested in sterile conditions by professionals. Frank notes that his pharma clients have occasionally gotten scammed by these suppliers. Commonly full of dirt and scorpion parts, the improperly harvested venom has to be discarded.
Can a Deathstalker Scorpion Kill You?
Ultimately, the viral claim that the deathstalker is among the world’s deadliest scorpions appears to have some validity. While most people recover from deathstalker stings following the administration of antivenom, they can be lethal, especially in children. Mild cases may result in elevated heart rate and sweating, among other symptoms, while fatalities typically result from cardiac and respiratory failure.
Rigorous statistics are hard to come by, though. Because much of its range is remote and identification is not always certain, encounters are not systematically recorded. And there’s another wrinkle: Originally categorized as a single species, Leiurus quinquestriatus, certain deathstalkers have now been reclassified into as many as twelve different species spread across the Middle East and Northern Africa, where half of the world’s scorpion deaths occur.
