| Cheloctonus jonesii | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Scorpiones |
| Family: | Hormuridae |
| Genus: | Cheloctonus |
| Species: | C. jonesii |
| Binomial name | |
| Cheloctonus jonesii Pocock, 1892 | |
Cheloctonus jonesii is a species of scorpion in the family Hormuridae native to southern Africa. [1]
This scorpion grows to be to 9 cm (3.5 in) long. It is variable in appearance, from all black in northern KwaZulu-Natal to brown with yellow legs in Mpumalanga. [2] The legs are otherwise rust-coloured. [3] It has a heavy-set body with stocky legs and stout arms (pedipalps) with short pincers (chelae). [4] Its cephalothorax is around 11 mm long and broader (11.5 mm) across. The tail is around 3.5 cm (1.4 in) long. British naturalist R. I. Pocock described the scorpion in 1892, naming it after the person who collected the specimen in the Murchison Range in what was then Transvaal, C.R. Jones. [3]
Cheloctonus jonesii is native to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini and eastern South Africa, where it is especially common in KwaZulu-Natal, there reaching densities of two burrows per three square metres. [4] In Jozini, densities of four per square metre have been reported. [2] It lives in areas of clay-based soil with annual rainfall of 800–1250 mm (30–50 in), [4] shunning waterlogged locales. [2] It excavates a vertical burrow around 18 cm (7 in) long, generally located at the base of a tuft of grass or among multiple tufts. The scorpion takes 2–3 nights to complete this, using its pincers to loosen the ground and then pedipalps and pincers as spades to carry the soil away. [4]
It eats dung beetles, which fall into its burrow. [4] C. jonesii has also been reported killing the red-billed quelea. [5]
Among creatures that prey on C. jonesii are large centipedes of the genus Scolopendra , the ground foraging red-billed hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus) and eastern yellow-billed hornbill (T. flavirostris), bushveld gerbil (Gerbilliscus leucogaster), Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) and lesser red musk shrew (Crocidura hirta). [4]
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always ending with a stinger. The evolutionary history of scorpions goes back 435 million years. They mainly live in deserts but have adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions, and can be found on all continents except Antarctica. There are over 2,500 described species, with 22 extant (living) families recognized to date. Their taxonomy is being revised to account for 21st-century genomic studies.
Uropygi is an arachnid order comprising invertebrates commonly known as whip scorpions or vinegaroons. They are often called uropygids. The name "whip scorpion" refers to their resemblance to true scorpions and possession of a whiplike tail, and "vinegaroon" refers to their ability when attacked to discharge an offensive, vinegar-smelling liquid, which contains acetic acid. The order may also be called Thelyphonida. Both names, Uropygi and Thelyphonida, may be used either in a narrow sense for the order of whip scorpions, or in a broad sense which includes the order Schizomida.
The southern yellow-billed hornbill is a hornbill found in southern Africa. Yellow-billed hornbills feed mainly on the ground, where they forage for seeds, small insects, spiders and scorpions. This hornbill species is a common and widespread resident of dry thornveldt and broad-leafed woodlands. They can often be seen along roads and water courses.
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The emperor scorpion(Pandinus imperator) is a species of scorpion native to rainforests and savannas in West Africa. It is one of the largest scorpions in the world and lives for 6–8 years. Its body is black, but like other scorpions it glows pastel green or blue under ultraviolet light. It is a popular species in the pet trade, and is protected by CITES to prevent over-collecting that might affect the species' survival.
The red-billed quelea, also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small—approximately 12 cm (4.7 in) long and weighing 15–26 g (0.53–0.92 oz)—migratory, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Senecio barbertonicus, the Barberton groundsel or succulent bush senecio, is an evergreen succulent shrub of the family Asteraceae and genus Senecio, native to Southern Africa, named after one of its native localities Barberton and is now also being cultivated elsewhere for its drought resistance, clusters of sweetly scented, golden-yellow, tufted flower heads in winter and attractiveness to butterflies, the painted lady butterfly in particular.
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Heterometrus, whose members are also known by the collective vernacular name Asian Forest Scorpion, is a genus of scorpions belonging to the family Scorpionidae. It is distributed widely across tropical and subtropical southeastern Asia, including Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and China (Hainan). It is notable for containing some of the largest living species of scorpions.
Pandinus is a genus of large scorpions belonging to the family Scorpionidae. It contains one of the most popular pet scorpions, the emperor scorpion . The genus is distributed across tropical Africa.
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Empisini Nature Reserve was established in 1973 and is situated in Umkomaas, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The reserve is approximately 60 ha in extent and is owned by the borough of uMkhomanzi which has been incorporated into the eThekwini municipality. Empisini is managed jointly by eThekwini and the Umkomaas centre of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. Empisini takes its name from a perennial stream which flows through it, and means "Place of the Hyena" in isiZulu. The reserve consists of coastal forest, wetlands, grassy slopes and a dam. Infrastructure consists of hiking trails, demarcated picnic sites, overnight cabins, and a tree house.
Urodacus yaschenkoi, also known as the inland scorpion or the desert scorpion, is a species of scorpion belonging to the family Urodacidae. It is native to central Australia. It is also referred as the desert robust scorpion, because of its robust black colour and a long tail lined with a deadly hook.
Neobisiidae is a family of pseudoscorpions distributed throughout Africa, the Americas and Eurasia and consist of 748 species in 34 genera. Some species live in caves while some are surface-dwelling.
Yimbulunga foordi is the type species of the genus Yimbulunga. It is a species of jumping spider species that lives in South Africa. The male was described in 2014 by Wanda Wesołowska, Galina Azarkina and Anthony Russell-Smith. The female has not been identified. The spider is very small, with a carapace that is 1.8 mm (0.071 in) long and an abdomen 1.4 mm (0.055 in) long. Both the carapace and abdomen are rounded, which is reflected in the genus name, the Zulu word for spherical. The species is named for the arachnologist Stefan Foord. The pedipalps are brown with a small lobe on the palpal bulb and a thin embolus that coils all the way round. The shape of the embolus and the overall stout shape of the spider differentiate the species.
Felicia wrightii is a low, up to 20 cm (8 in) high, perennial, herbaceous plant with conspicuous basal leaf rosettes, and runners that end in rosettes. It has narrow bracts along the inflorescence stalks on top of which are individual flower heads with an involucre of three whorls of bracts, about sixteen ray florets with about 1 cm long, pale blue straps, that encircle many yellow disc florets. No fertile seeds have been found, so this species may solely reproduce vegetatively. The species is only known from one location in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, where it grows on damp stream banks.
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