Tucson Area
Fauna — Flora — Geology

The Bark Scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda) is HIGHLY DANGEROUS TO HUMANS. If you are stung, call the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at 626-6016 in Tucson. 1-800-362-0101 elsewhere in Arizona, or 1- 800-222-1222 from anywhere in the US. Unfortunately, this scorpion is very common in Tucson homes. It is most easily identified by its unusually thin pincers. Since this scorpion has such a powerful toxin to inject, it does not require the heavier, more powerful pincers of most other scorpions. Its body grows to less than 3 inches, and it enjoys climbing – such as garden walls, trees, and fences. This is a very dangerous animal, and should be actively avoided.

The Stripe-tailed Scorpion (Vaejovis spinigeris) is a small relatively harmless scorpion, measuring less than 2 inches at maturity. The Stripe-tailed Scorpion is more common to the Tucson area than any other scorpion. They are nocturnal, doing their traveling, hunting, and mating at night. During the day, they find shelter from predators and the sun by lying under rocks. As scorpions do, it arches its tail back up over its own body. This allows this scorpion to be rather easily identified. It has thin, very dark stripes that run the length of its tail.

The Giant Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis) is also sometimes called the Desert Hairy Scorpion. Its upper body areas are dark, and it can grow to be as long as 6 inches, giving it a tremendous size advantage when hunting. It is not considered dangerous to humans. When you see a scorpion fighting in the desert with a lizard, likely it will be a Giant Hairy Scorpion as they are large enough to attack some lizards. They're so large that some people mistake them for crawfish – but only for a moment. If you get to see one in the wild, its size is quite impressive. It lives underground in burrows that go down many inches below the surface where it is cooler, and there is more moisture.

Two more spiders that merit attention and mention, as they are both very dangerous to humans, are the Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus hesperus) and the Brown Spider (Loxosceles spp) – also known as the Brown Recluse Spider. We'll briefly look at them…

The Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus hesperus) is one of those animal species where the female is king, or queen, on the scales. The females, at ½" - ¾" in length, are twice the size of the males. The females have large, bulbous bodies that are deep black and have a red, or reddish, or yellow-red hourglass shape on their abdomens. The male is brown and has some light markings on his legs and abdomen. Both are carriers of toxic venom, and both are dangerous to humans – though the female is much, much more deadly. In fact, her bite can even be fatal to humans. If bitten, contact the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at 626-6016 in Tucson. 1-800-362-0101 outside of Tucson, in Arizona. This spider got its name because of the fact that it frequently eats its mate after breeding. Needless to say, males are quite cautious in approaching a potential mate. Females can only mate once in their lifetime, which might help explain their less than gracious attitude about it...

The Brown Spider (Loxosceles spp) – also known as the Brown Recluse Spider, is about ¾" in length. As the name implies, it is brown in color, with a small, very hard to see mark behind its eyes that's shaped like a violin (this is why some have referred to this as the "fiddle-back spider"). This spider only has six eyes, unlike most spiders that have eight eyes. This animal injects a venom which is dangerous to humans – it can be fatal. If bitten, contact the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at 626-6016 in Tucson. 1-800-362-0101 outside of Tucson, in Arizona. These spiders construct irregularly shaped webs, usually hidden away from plain sight. The webs make nice homes, and are used to trap their prey.

Both the Black Widow Spider and the Brown Recluse Spider are solitary animals that are not easily found or seen. They hide in dark, out of the way places, which is largely what makes them so dangerous. They take up residence in shoes that are not worn often, or in boots while you're camping – or behind something that is not moved often. They do not like to be disturbed, which almost invariably happens accidentally - as the person disturbing them doesn't know they are present in their secretive locations.

Useful Links:

The Reptile Database
The Desert Museum
The Mayo Clinic

<< Previous Page :: :: ::

<< Return to Animal Articles