Terry Stokes, a volunteer at Noosa & District Landcare's Riparian Nursery has a keen eye for things natural. Particularly for new and interesting creatures. Terry found this little fella a few weeks ago, and brought him [her?] in for me to have a look at. I have seen plenty of these guys at the nursery during my time here. They tend to be under the bark of logs or under rocks.

I think this is a common brown scorpion [Urodacus manicatus]. I have asked the Queensland Museum if they can help me with a positive ID.  [I was wrong - please see the note at the bottom of this post!!!]

Scorpions are really cool. They are Arachnids [includes spiders, ticks, mites] and are pretty common. They are generally nocturnal feeding on Arthropods [beetles, cockroaches, slaters etc]. They are easily distinguished by their long tail, with a sting at the end of it, and two big pincers at the head end [these are called pedipalps]. They can have six to twelve eyes, however they don't have good eyesight! However they do have excellent low light sensitivity, coming in handy for their night-life. They use sensors [hairs, pectines and slit organs] to pick up vibrations, textures and scents.

Sometimes people say that scorpions glow in the dark... this isn't true, but they do glow under ultraviolet light...they are quite sensitive to sunlight and try to avoid it as much as possible. The scorpion uses its pedipalps [claws or jaws] to hold its prey, so that it can sting the victim. They then use digestive juices to turn the flesh into a liquid to be able to ingest it [told you they were cool].

Mating is intriguing also. The male deposits a sperm parcel and the two then do a sort of dance, during which the male positions the female over the sperm parcel. The female can then draw the parcel into her genital pore. She gives birth to live young, which ride on her back until they can fend for themselves...[ up to a few weeks] In order to grow they must shed their hard exoskeletons,and are particularly vulnerable at this time, until the exoskeleton hardens up. Predators include birds, carnivorous marsupials, rodents and other scorpions! They can live up to 25 years.

Whilst the sting from a scorpion can be painful, it is not considered dangerous. Best treatment is a cold pack, and, of course, seek medical advice if it does not get better.  These guys are part of our Biosphere too...

UPDATE 28.April.2010 - reply from Owen Seaman at Queensland museum (Cheers Owen!):

Dear Phil,

The scorpion pictured is Liocheles waigiensis, or “Rainforest Scorpion”. Despite the common name, you’ll find this animal in coastal Queensland anywhere where’s there’s a bit of moisture under logs and rocks to sustain a population – so you’ll get them in dry sclerophyll to coastal Casuarina to rainforest habitats.

This species is placid and you really have to agitate it to make it sting you. If you’re silly enough to get stung then you’ll find the venom is also laughably weak.

Owen Seeman
Collection Manager: Arachnida & Myriapoda
Queensland Museum