Family: Buthidae, Buthid Scorpions view all from this family

Description 2-2 3/4" (50-70 mm). Dark brown to tan, often striped with greenish yellow along midline above. Some species have greenish-yellow parallel stripe on each side of cephalothorax. Abdomen slender, constructed at each segment, pale or dark according to species. Tooth beneath venom bulb.

Warning Sting is painful but not lethal.

Food Small insects.

Life Cycle Female keeps egg in sac, then carries hatchlings on back until they can fend for themselves. Male uses pincers to pull female on top of him.

Habitat Dark crevices under bark, stones, and litter on the ground, and on dry abandoned dirt roads.

Range Florida and Gulf states, west to Arizona and Mexico.

Discussion These scorpions seize prey in pincer-tipped pedipalps and kill them with their stingers.