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Sticker of Large-clawed scorpion
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Large-clawed scorpion

Scorpio maurus
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsScorpions, ticks and friendsDeserts and dry places8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The large-clawed scorpion has a brown back and big, golden claws. It is a champion digger that makes very deep burrows in the desert sand. Deep down in its burrow, the sand stays cool and a little damp.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
North Africa and the Middle East, in deserts and sometimes thin woodland
Length
7.6 cm (3 in)
Top speed
about 2.3 km/h (1.4 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read about its close cousin on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
Like other scorpions, it catches insects and other small creatures with its big claws.
For real!Photo of Large-clawed scorpion
Picture by Guy Haimovitch. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Large-clawed scorpion about 7.6 cm long (3 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 2.5 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.6 seconds

How big is Large-clawed scorpion compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its burrows can be up to 1 metre deep, about as deep as a 6-year-old is tall.

2

There are many different types of this scorpion living in different places, and scientists have described 19 of them.

you asked

Most asked questions about Large-clawed scorpion

?How big is the large-clawed scorpion?

It is about 7.5 centimetres long.

?Where does the large-clawed scorpion live?

In deep burrows in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Scorpio maurus
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Scorpionidae
Classification
Arachnida > Scorpiones > Scorpionidae
Lives on
Africa, Asia
Also known as
Israel golden scorpion, Zerachia scorpion

Where the facts come from

  1. Scorpio maurus (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 Guy Haimovitch. 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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