Bark Scorpion

• Unlike almost all scorpions, it can climb walls and ceilings and turns up hanging upside down, which multiplies encounters inside houses.
• A specific antivenom exists that has cut mortality in the United States to almost nil.
• It glows brightly under ultraviolet light, and UV torches are the usual way of finding it at night in Arizona gardens.
• It is the most dangerous scorpion in North America, and the only one in the United States whose sting can be fatal.
• Its venom does not destroy tissue: it acts on the sodium channels of the nerves and causes extreme pain, described as electric shocks, along with numbness, blurred vision and uncontrolled muscle spasms. In small children it can compromise breathing.
• A specific antivenom has existed since 2011, the first approved by the FDA for scorpion stings, and it resolves the neurological symptoms in under an hour.
• Unlike other desert scorpions, it climbs: it goes up walls, furniture and tree trunks, and can hang upside down from the ceiling. That explains why it turns up inside houses and in shoes and towels.
• It is gregarious in winter: it gathers in communal shelters of dozens of individuals, something uncommon among scorpions.
• It fluoresces intensely under ultraviolet light, and in Arizona a night-time search with a UV torch is the usual method for locating them in homes.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (arachnid)

Habitat and environment

Sonoran Desert: under bark and stones and inside houses

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Centruroides sculpturatus

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.