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Sticker of Common yellow scorpion
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Common yellow scorpion

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

It lives in hot, dry places around the Mediterranean Sea. In the daytime it hides under stones and comes out when it is cooler.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal and France), North Africa and the Middle East, in dry stony places
Length
6 to 8 cm (2.4 to 3.1 in)
Top speed
about 2.3 km/h (1.4 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Dangerous: look, do not touch

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
Like other scorpions, it hunts small animals such as insects.
For real!Photo of Common yellow scorpion
Picture by Nabokov - the required attribution if you use this photo is "Photo by Tom Oates". CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Common yellow scorpion about 8 cm long (3.1 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 Common yellow scorpion compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It hides under stones during the day.

2

Some live in Spanish mountain forests where it snows in winter.

3

Like all scorpions, it has eight legs and is a cousin of spiders.

you asked

Most asked questions about Common yellow scorpion

?How big is the common yellow scorpion?

About 6 to 8 centimetres long.

?Where does the common yellow scorpion live?

In hot, dry places in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Buthus occitanus
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Buthidae
Classification
Arachnida > Scorpiones > Buthidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Buthus occitanus (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 Nabokov - the required attribution if you use this photo is "Photo by Tom Oates". CC BY 4.0, 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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