Bugs Show 'Insect'

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Back from the SW, here's one (got black light shots also) using the Canon 500D on the 75-300 II Oly, illuminated by headlamp : Hadrurus Arizonensis

View attachment 341931
Beautiful shot.

I got stung by a scorpion a bit like that. Had a very interesting talk to a researcher at Melbourne University about the dual nature of the toxin/s they use, and their effects. He informed me that the last verified death was of a 4 y.o. girl in Western Australia in 1904.

After our discussion, he agreed that the 3 days until the neurotoxicity started has probably masked other deaths.

The person at the Australian Poisons Centre had told me that Australian scorpions aren't poisonous, to which I replied that they are the only ones in the world that aren't then ...
 
It seems the person at the Poisons centre is right. I dug up something. Then again you may have introduced species. We are talking native ones aren't we?

 
It seems the person at the Poisons centre is right. I dug up something. Then again you may have introduced species. We are talking native ones aren't we?

Lucien, I would much rather put my faith in a senior researcher at the Australian Poisons Research Group at the University of Melbourne than the Australian Geographic magazine.

The reason their venom is not noticed is that it consists of two toxins. One causes immediate swelling and pain at the envenomation site. The second is a neurotoxin which takes around 3 days ± to make its way from your foot (usually) to your brain. Not unlike rabies in that regard. The closer to your brain that envenomation occurs, the faster the onset of the neurological symptoms.

All scorpions are of very ancient lineage, dating from around 435 MYA (the Silurian period). This is why all scorpions on the planet are relatively similar in both toxicity and other morphological ways. Since they first evolved, our galaxy has turned around twice, and the continents on this planet have rearranged themselves dramatically quite a number of times - see Pangea, Gondwana and Gondwanaland, for starters.

I also learned a bit about scorpions in my psychology studies.
 
Ecellent John, I must concur. Can't argue with the facts. There is only one ceavat, you not an expert on venomous Arachnids nor am I, soo I produced an url/weblink, and so did you... is there anything definitive . But I'm going to have a cold one. And please enjoy the rest of your day
 
Sometimes animals can interbreed if the species is very close to each other in the Genus. However, probably never happen as scorpions are predatory as well as cannibalistic. There has been several papers on species having two types of venom (in fact one researcher cautioned on handling the Desert Hairy due to his research showing that it had two types of venom). Here is the thing with any venomous animal, you may or may not respond to a "only hurts like a bee sting", but no one knows when that will happen to them. Several years ago a friend of mine was stung by a Bold Face Hornet (actually the largest of the Yellow Jacket family and not a wasp at all) - life flighted to save his life. Treat everything with respect, not because you could die but because they deserve it.
 
Sometimes animals can interbreed if the species is very close to each other in the Genus. However, probably never happen as scorpions are predatory as well as cannibalistic. There has been several papers on species having two types of venom (in fact one researcher cautioned on handling the Desert Hairy due to his research showing that it had two types of venom). Here is the thing with any venomous animal, you may or may not respond to a "only hurts like a bee sting", but no one knows when that will happen to them. Several years ago a friend of mine was stung by a Bold Face Hornet (actually the largest of the Yellow Jacket family and not a wasp at all) - life flighted to save his life. Treat everything with respect, not because you could die but because they deserve it.
Agree. That's why my allergist is on speed dial ...

I'm allergic to horse proteins, and most snakebite antivenenes are produced from horses. The snake bite might not kill me, but the antivenene may well do so.
 
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