Scientific Name:  Hadrurus arizonensis
Order:  Scorpiones
Family:  Vaejovidae
Diet:  Eats spiders, large insects, small invertebrates, lizards, snakes and other scorpions.
Vegetation Association:  They dig burrows in loose soil and may be found under rocks.  They will follow the moisture line as it recedes and can be found up to 8 feet deep.  This species is nocturnal.
Predators:  Elf Owls, lizards, snakes, grasshopper mice, desert shrews, and pallid bats prey upon scorpions. 
Life Stages:  They give birth to live young throughout the summer.  They are not fully developed when they are born and will continue to develop for 7-21 days until their exoskeleton first molts.  Babies will crawl up their mother and hold onto her back.  If they fall off their mother may eat them.
Notes:  This is the largest scorpion in the United States growing up to 6 inches long.  There are 36 scorpion species native to Arizona and the Sonoran Desert.  They glow in the dark when seen under black light.  This species has a mild sting that will cause a small amount of pain and swelling.   It gets its name from the tiny hairs that cover its body.  These hairs are used to detect prey. 

Photo: Taken at Coon Bluff on August 1, 2006.

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