So imagine you are in the Brazilian holiday resort of Buzios, lazing on the beach or sipping a caipirinha, and a yellow scorpion appears. Not only that, it is the MOST DANGEROUS SCORPION IN BRAZIL!
Wikimedia Commons, Fernanda Moreira
It’s Tityus serrulatus, the Brazilian Yellow Scorpion ("escorpião-amarelo") (who makes up these names?). Anyway, they are quite small, 5-7cm, but manage to cause the highest number of poisonings from animal bites in Brazil, facing some strong competition! A cocktail of toxins cause a whole raft of symptoms and can kill you in an hour. The Instituto Vital Brazil has reportedly captured 200 of these little monsters in Buzios, and taken them to the institute for anti-venom research.
This scorpion loves to feed on flies and cockroaches, and so is drawn to the same refuse that they are. An absence of natural enemies in cities (not surprisingly) makes them well adapted to urban life, and their numbers are increasing. Make sure you clean up your rubbish!
https://revistaforum.com.br/brasil/2024/2/21/paraiso-turistico-brasileiro-invadido-por-escorpies-venenosos-154375.html
Pimenta RJG, Brandão-Dias PFP, Leal HG, Carmo AOD, Oliveira-Mendes BBR, Chávez-Olórtegui C, Kalapothakis E. (2019). Selected to survive and kill: Tityus serrulatus, the Brazilian yellow scorpion. PLoS One, 14(4),e0214075.
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