A desert hairy scorpion, a white box & 15 minutes

[ecooper]

Lately I have been lamenting the lack of critters available to me to photograph at this time of the year. Well I am happy to say that the problem has been resolved—for the time being at least. Last week I took possession of 19 new “pets” including three new species of scorpions, two species of tarantulas, and one centipede. One might jump to the conclusion that I used the dearth of photographic subjects as an excuse to buy some interesting critters (and one would be right).

Last night I finally managed to find a whole 15 minutes to do a shoot, so I quickly set-up my white box and took these pictures of one of my new critters: a lovely adult female desert hairy scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis). Here are a couple of photos from the series I posted on my blog.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

desert hairy scorpion 7 copyright ernie cooper 2012_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

desert hairy scorpion 6 copyright ernie cooper 2012_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

[anthony]

Excellent as usual. You just do not realize the details on these creatures until you see them like this.

[pittendrighinsects]

Interesting scorpion, I use to collect them in Spain (believe it or not, there is a scorpion species in Europe), they look quite similar to your specimen. I remember that when I went scorpion collecting, they always hid under rocks, but they also burrow in sand, amazing yet dangerous creatures.

Quintin

[ecooper]

Dec 8, 2012 15:24:38 GMT -8 pittendrighinsects said:

Interesting scorpion, I use to collect them in Spain (believe it or not, there is a scorpion species in Europe), they look quite similar to your specimen. I remember that when I went scorpion collecting, they always hid under rocks, but they also burrow in sand, amazing yet dangerous creatures.

Quintin

The most common scorpion in Spain is Buthus occitanus, isn't it? Nice animals. I'm envious that you could go out scorpion collecting. There are no scorpions where I live!

EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com