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Sticker of European yellow-tailed scorpion
Bug card No. 0488 of 1,500

European yellow-tailed scorpion

Euscorpius flavicaudis
Name means: “flavicaudis means yellow tail”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsScorpions, ticks and friendsHouses and farms8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The European yellow-tailed scorpion is a small black scorpion with yellowish brown legs and tail. It has big strong claws and a short thin tail. It likes to hide in cracks in old walls.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
Southern Europe and North-west Africa, and a few places in England, in old walls
Length
3.5 to 4.5 cm (1.4 to 1.8 in)
Top speed
about 1.7 km/h (1.1 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It mostly eats woodlice, and other small insects too. It waits very still at the door of its hiding hole and then grabs prey that walks by.
For real!Photo of European yellow-tailed scorpion
Picture by BlueBreezeWiki. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

European yellow-tailed scorpion about 4.5 cm long (1.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.1 seconds

How big is European yellow-tailed scorpion compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It arrived in England about 200 years ago, probably hidden in stones shipped from Italy.

2

The colony in England has 10,000 to 15,000 scorpions living in old dockyard walls.

3

It can live on just four or five woodlice in a whole year.

4

The babies ride on their mother's back for about 6 days.

you asked

Most asked questions about European yellow-tailed scorpion

?Are there scorpions in England?

Yes. A colony of European yellow-tailed scorpions has lived in walls in Kent and London for about 200 years.

?What does it eat?

Mostly woodlice and other small bugs.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Euscorpius flavicaudis
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Euscorpiidae
Classification
Arachnida > Scorpiones > Euscorpiidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Tetratrichobothrius flavicaudis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by BlueBreezeWiki. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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