Yellow Tailed Scorpions

[Chris Mullins]

Originally recorded in the 1860s at Sheerness in Kent, the Yellow Tailed Scorpion has been living in the wall and rock crevices feeding on insects and other small invertebrates for a very long time.

And yes it has a sting in it's tail, which can be quite painful, but is usually only fatal to those that are very young, old, infirm or susceptible to such.

We need as much information on these colonies as we can get our hands on, so if you know of any then I'd be happy to hear from you.

[blackcatswhiskers]

hi chris i've found this bit of info about these scorpions which i thought i'd pass on. apparently theres a colony of about 3000 living and breeding on the isle of sheppey. they sneaked into the country about 100 years ago on the freight ships and found the perfect habitat in the dock wall. they are quite difficult to spot during the day but are very active at night, if you shine ultra violet light on them they glow in the dark !! workers frequently report seeing them scuttling about on the floor and they've even been known to run across their feet. no one knows how the original ones managed to survive our cold climate but it seems or ever warming climate suits them just fine. as our climate gets warmer who knows what other exotic creatures will survive here.

[Chris Mullins]

Thanks Rose, they appear to be localised around the area of Kent, I read about a reported colony over in Sheerness, but don't know of any others outside this area.

Regards our climate change and their survival, I'm completely in agreement with you.

[Bullseye]

Think there is/was a colony in Ongar in Kent/London,at the train station !,not sure of spiceis though.

[Chris Mullins]

Nice one Michael, haven't heard of that one before.

Any others?

[stronzo1]

Checkout this web site, it is not maintained any more so some of the information maybe a little out of date.

www.insect-world.com/insects/scorpionidae.html

[Chris Mullins]

Thanks Mark, but I can't seem to get the wbsite up, it reads:

The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.

Is everyone else having the same prob?

[fellwitch]

Yellow tailed scorpions

www.foundationtv.co.uk/brilliantcreatures/ser6/show4item5.html


This emperor scorpion is one of the largest in the world.Some scorpions are armed with a deadly venom, but this one isn't dangerous.
This one comes from south east Asia.Scorpions like warm climates, but amazingly there are some in the UK.
If you live in Kent, you could be living close to a population of them.There are three thousand european yellow tailed scorpions living on the Isle of Sheppey!
They've been breeding there for over a hundred years.They sneaked in on freight ships heading for the UK. They found the perfect habitat to live in, an old brick wall in the docks!
The scorpions are tricky to spot during the day. But they come to life at night.And under an ultra violet light, they glow in the dark!
These small scorpions have a very light sting, which poses little threat to humans.Workers at the dock have even seen them scuttle across their feet!
It looks like the scorpions are here to stay, despite our cold climate.But with the world getting hotter, who knows what other exotic creatures could come and live here?

© The Foundation TV Productions Ltd 2004

[fellwitch]

www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14250387&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=a-summer-to-die-for-name_page.html

A SUMMER TO DIE FOR

May 18th 2004 by Ruki Sayid
(an extract from the article)

Our warmer climate has boosted the breeding of a potentially deadly scorpion in Kent.
The 5cm-long European yellow-tailed scorpion lurks in crevices in walls and rocks, and its sting can be fatal to the elderly and very young.
A 10,000-strong colony has settled in brickwork around Sheerness docks in Kent, and others have been found in Harwich, Pinner and Ongar Underground station.

[fellwitch]

www.planet-science.com/about_sy/index.html?page=/about_sy/news/ps_76-100/ps_issue90.html

03. SCORPIONS IN THE UK

Did you know there were scorpions in the UK?

Tony Stevens, from the Science Department in Trinity School in Newbury, has been in touch to tell us about an article from last week's paper that has been whipping up great interest - and no doubt some alarm - amongst his pupils...

The article in question was in last Friday's Daily Mail, entitled 'March of the Scorpion'. A suitably huge picture of the arachnid, known as the 'European Yellow-Tailed Scorpion' was featured - along with allegations that they've been seen in Kent, Essex, Middlesex and North London, and that yes they ARE poisonous, and could be potentially life-threatening to infants and older people.

If you'd like to check out the original article, get along to your local library and look on page 23 of last Friday's mail. Yeowcheree - that really is a particularly hair-raising picture.

Newspapers do enjoy a good scare-story, but the facts about this particular creature are backed up on the following websites:

www.introduced-species.co.uk/Species/

www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/european_scorp.php

[Chris Mullins]

Wow!!! thanks for these Jan, although I already had the first link you gave me, and am in regular contact with Adrian, the second link will hopefully open some new doors for us.

Thanks once again....... you're a star *

Below is a a pic taken of one of our UK Scorpions emerging from brickwork, somewhere in the south: