Scorpions develop a sting in the tail before they are ready to use it

Newborn scorpions produce and store venom in their tail, or telson, despite not being able to use it until they have shed their first exoskeleton

Scorpions develop a sting in the tail before they are ready to use it
Life 9 September 2021

By James Urquhart

Chinese Scorpion (Buthus martensii)

Chinese scorpion (Mesobuthus martensii)

Eng Wah Teo / Alamy

Newborn scorpions hitch a thrust connected their mother’s backmost for protection, and astatine this aboriginal signifier successful their lives cannot eat, excrete oregon sting. But scientists person recovered that they inactive accumulate venom, enabling them to drawback prey and support themselves arsenic soon arsenic they spell it unsocial aft shedding their archetypal exoskeleton.

Such speedy improvement of venom accumulation helps to explicate scorpions’ singular endurance quality since their past aquatic ancestors swam the seas much than 400 cardinal years ago, surviving adjacent wide extinction events, …

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