Greta Bowies, age 12, of Dayton Ohio, for her question:
ARE THERE MANY KINDS OF SCORPIONS?
A scorpion is any member of the arthropod family, a group of creatures that includes spiders and mites. There are about 650 species of scorpion around the world, with about 40 of them found in the United States.Usually brown in color and ranging form about one to eight inches in length, the scorpion has a flat, narrow body, two lobster like claws, eight legs and a segmented abdominal tail. Terminating in a venomous stinger supplied by a pair of poison glands, the tail is usually curved upward and forward over the back.
Found in warm and dry tropical regions, including the Southwestern United States, the scorpion is nocturnal and feeds mainly on spiders and insects.
The scorpion's young are born live and remain with the mother for a short period.
When capturing a victim with its claws, the scorpion inflicts a disabling sting that is painful but, in most species, not fatal to humans. The sting of one species found in the United States, however, is potentially fatal. Other areas of the world have more dangerous types.