---
title: "What the sources say about the Desert Hairy Scorpion | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "50 claims from the Desert Hairy Scorpion profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Desert Hairy Scorpion (*Hadrurus arizonensis*)

> 50 claims from the Desert Hairy Scorpion profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Desert Hairy Scorpion](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/desert-hairy-scorpion/)

## Hadrurus arizonensis (North American hairy scorpion). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hadrurus_arizonensis/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| It grows 10 to 18 centimeters long | Range length 10 to 18 cm |
| weighs 4 to 7 grams | Range mass 4 to 7 g |
| It lives across the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States, reaching into Utah, Nevada | native to desert regions of the Nearctic, largely within the Sonoran and Mojave desert in the southwestern United States. They can also be found in Utah and Nevada. |
| which pick up vibrations moving through the air and the ground | North American hairy scorpions utilize their hairs, for which they are named, to detect vibrations in the air (sound) as well as in the ground. |
| It is not considered a public health threat, and its sting is comparable to a bee sting | their venom is weak and they are not considered a public health threat ... Their sting is comparable to a bee sting. |
| The venom immobilizes small insects and other invertebrates but has little effect on vertebrates such as lizards and small mammals | The venom successfully immobilizes small insects and other invertebrates but has little effect on vertebrates such as lizards and small mammals. |
| strikes blindly at anything it takes as a threat | striking blindly at anything deemed threatening |
| other scorpions prey on it both for food and to assert dominance | They are also preyed upon by other scorpions , both for food and to assert dominance. |
| Courtship starts with the male grabbing the female by the side and clubbing her with his stinger, then taking her by the pincers and leading her through a rocking, back-and-forth dance called a promenade a deux | The male grabs the female by the side, clubbing the mesosoma of the female with the stinger ... He then grabs the female by the pedipalps, leading her on a "promenade a deux", a coordinated dance involving simple movements back and forth rocking |
| Occasionally, after mating, the female tracks the male down and eats him | Occasionally, after mating, the female tracks down her mate and eats it. |
| as temperatures drop in winter it goes dormant, often underground in its burrow or in a cave | North American hairy scorpions go dormant during the winter as temperatures drop, often living underground in their burrow or in caves. |
| Not Evaluated | The conservation status of North American hairy scorpions has not been evaluated by the IUCN. (note: stats.conservationStatus; no Red List assessment DOI found for Hadrurus arizonensis via audit:sources search or GBIF/Crossref; the previous 'Least Concern' had no assessment behind it) |
| senses vibrations in the air and the ground through its body hairs | utilize their hairs, for which they are named, to detect vibrations in the air (sound) as well as in the ground |
| Mojave and Sonoran Desert low valleys, rock crevices and small caves across the southwestern United States, Utah, Nevada and northern Mexico | largely within the Sonoran and Mojave desert in the southwestern United States. They can also be found in Utah and Nevada. (note: 'low valleys' from neoichnology-2012; 'rock crevices' from oregon-zoo; 'small caves' from ADW habitat text; 'northern Mexico' from la-zoo) |
| it also occupies abandoned burrows, small caves and crevices | They occupy abandoned burrows, small caves, and crevices. |
| Its common name comes from the brown hairs | utilize their hairs, for which they are named |
| it often waits inside a burrow and ambushes prey once it comes in range, grabbing it with its pincers and stinging it | They often wait inside a burrow and ambush prey with their stinger once prey are in range. They use their modified front pedipalps to grab prey and the stinger equipped to their tail to deliver a venomous sting. |
| Its venom is fairly weak compared with most scorpions' | The venom of North American hairy scorpions is fairly week compared to most scorpions |
| when prey struggles, it fights for its meal | They fight for their meal if prey struggle. |
| When provoked, it stands erect on its legs, flails its stinger | When threatened, North American hairy scorpions stand erect on their legs and flail their stinger |
| feeling vibrations through its hairs | utilize their hairs, for which they are named, to detect vibrations in the air (sound) as well as in the ground |
| Insects | such as insects and other invertebrates |
| It is a nocturnal, solitary hunter | North American hairy scorpions are solitary predators that spend most of their time in burrows or under rocks. They are nocturnal |
| dangerLevel: Medium | their venom is weak and they are not considered a public health threat ... Their sting is comparable to a bee sting. (note: task #812; a painful sting that is not a public health threat is 'Can injure, but rarely seriously', the tier the bark scorpions' bee-sting comparison got in #807) |
| for a scorpion whose body hairs pick up vibrations in the air and the ground | North American hairy scorpions utilize their hairs, for which they are named, to detect vibrations in the air (sound) as well as in the ground. (note: task #812, vibe.reason) |

## Desert hairy scorpion. Oregon Zoo.

https://www.oregonzoo.org/animals/desert-hairy-scorpion

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| North America's largest scorpion | They are the largest scorpion species in North America. |
| is the largest scorpion species in North America | They are the largest scorpion species in North America. |
| about four to seven inches | Desert hairy scorpions grow four to seven inches long |
| up to a quarter of an ounce | weigh up to a quarter of an ounce |
| Its predators include owls, bats, lizards and snakes | predators, which include owls, bats, lizards and snakes |
| Those hairs alert it to potential prey and to predators | They use the hair on the body to feel vibrations that alert them to potential prey and threatening predators |
| It avoids the heat of the desert day by burrowing into rock crevices and holes | avoiding the heat of the daytime by burrowing in rock crevices and holes |
| to escape desert heat | avoiding the heat of the daytime by burrowing in rock crevices and holes |

## Desert Hairy Scorpion. Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

https://lazoo.org/explore-your-zoo/our-animals/invertebrates/desert-hairy-scorpion/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| and northern Mexico | native to the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of Northern Mexico and the American Southwest |
| In the wild it lives an average of seven to ten years; in human care it can reach 15 to 20 | In the wild, the desert hairy scorpion's average lifespan is seven to ten years, but in human care, they can live for 15 to 20 years. |

## Scorpion. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/scorpion

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Scorpions have tiny mouths and can only suck up liquid, so a catch is mashed up and bathed in enzymes that dissolve its insides | Scorpions have a very tiny mouth and can only suck up liquid, so prey that is caught is mashed up and bathed in enzymes that dissolve the prey's insides (note: scorpion-wide wording; SDZ page covers all scorpions) |

## Hembree, Johnson & Tenwalde (2012). Neoichnology of the desert scorpion Hadrurus arizonensis: burrows to biogenic cross lamination. Palaeontologia Electronica.

https://doi.org/10.26879/292

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| digging burrows up to 2.5 meters underground | they construct burrows that can be up to 2.5 m deep |
| It is usually found in low valleys, where it digs its own burrows | They are usually found in low elevation valleys where they construct burrows |
| brown hairs covering its body | brown setae ("hairs") that cover its body which allow the scorpion to detect vibrations in the soil |
| A nocturnal predator | H. arizonensis is a nocturnal predator |
| Its large size lets it feed on invertebrates, including other scorpions, and on small vertebrates such as rodents, lizards and snakes | The large size of H. arizonensis allows it to feed on a variety of invertebrates including other scorpions as well as small vertebrates such as rodents, lizards, and snakes (note: 'lets' paraphrases the source's 'allows') |
| its burrows can reach 2.5 meters, more than eight feet, deep | they construct burrows that can be up to 2.5 m deep |
| Digs burrows up to 2.5 meters deep to escape desert heat | they construct burrows that can be up to 2.5 m deep |
| Invertebrates, including other scorpions, and small rodents, lizards and snakes | feed on a variety of invertebrates including other scorpions as well as small vertebrates such as rodents, lizards, and snakes |

## Hadley (1970). Water Relations of the Desert Scorpion, Hadrurus Arizonensis. Journal of Experimental Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.53.3.547

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A desert hairy scorpion's water-loss rate is well below that of other desert arthropods under similar conditions | Total water-loss rates for Hadrurus arizonensis ... are comparable to rates for Old World species and are well below rates for other desert arthropods under similar conditions. |
| In dead scorpions, water lost through the cuticle, the outer covering, alone exceeds the total water loss of living ones, which the study's author read as evidence of an active water-retaining mechanism in the cuticle | Cuticular water-loss values in dead scorpions exceed those of total water loss in living scorpions. The increased cuticular permeability after death is interpreted as evidence for the existence of an active cuticular water-retaining mechanism. |
| The cuticle becomes abruptly more permeable, or leakier to water, between 35 and 40°C, and again between 65 and 70°C | abrupt increases in cuticular permeability occurring between 35 and 40°C and between 65 and 70°C |

## Fox, Cooper & Hayes (2015). The Dilemma of Choosing a Reference Character for Measuring Sexual Size Dimorphism, Sexual Body Component Dimorphism, and Character Scaling: Cryptic Dimorphism and Allometry in the Scorpion Hadrurus arizonensis. PLOS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120392

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Those are pectines, sensory organs that detect both physical and chemical cues from the ground | Pectines comprise sensory organs that detect both physical [27] and chemical cues from the substrate |
| Males use them to follow the scent trails females lay down and to judge whether a surface suits a sperm packet | The enhanced pectines of males are associated with mating, as they can follow the pheromonal trails laid down by females ... and assess appropriate substrates for spermatophore deposition |
| adult males' pectines are about 17 percent longer than females' on average | males had significantly larger Chela L (2.17%), Met 1 L (5.33%), Met 5 L (6.57%) and Met 5 W (1.74%), Met L (7.81%), Tot L (2.89%), and Pec L (17.09%) (note: Pec L is pectine length, so 'larger Pec L (17.09%)' is 'longer'; 17.09% rounded to 'about 17 percent') |