Parabuthus villosus (Black hairy thick-tailed scorpion)

Parabuthus villosus (Black hairy thick-tailed scorpion)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Arthropoda > Arachnomorpha > Cheliceriformes > Chelicerata > Euchelicerata > Arachnida > Scorpiones (scorpions) > Superfamily: Buthoidea > Family: Buthidae > Parabuthus

Parabuthus villosus specimen from Namib Desert. [photo H. Robertson ©]

The Black hairy thick-tailed scorpion is large, about 140 mm in length and is black in colour. It is often seen during the day and is common from the Northern Cape and Namibia. Besides its normal prey it also captures lizards and mice.

Robertson et al. (1982) showed that water loss in this species was very low and furthermore that there was good evidence of osmoregulation such that the osmolarity of the haemolymph remained much the same with increased weight loss (mainly from dehydration) whereas in Opistophthalmus capensis, which was also studied, osmolarity of the haemolymph increased with weight loss.

Publications

Robertson, H.G., Nicolson, S.W. & Louw, G.N. 1982. Osmoregulation and temperature effects on water loss and oxygen consumption in two species of African scorpion. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 71A: 605-609.