May 23, 2012 – False Or Wind – What Kind of Scorpion
QUESTION:
I had a women contact my office the other day stating that she had pseudo-scorpions in her closet. My office is in Northern Ohio (Toledo). Is this possible and what would the treatment be?
ANSWER:
There could be a case of mistaken identity here. Where she says "pseudo" scorpion, which is another name for the small False Scorpions that are found under bark, she may be meaning "wind" or "sun" scorpion, which is more properly called a Solpugid. I suppose it is perfectly possible that you could have either one, but the larger solpugids are more likely to be seen walking around inside a home. These predatory animals are harmless and non-venomous cousins of true scorpions, and rely on a very aggressive nature and excellent shredding mandibles to capture and subdue their prey, which is other small arthropods. They are most common in arid regions such as the Southwest states, but we get them in the mountains of California where it gets cold in the winter, so no reason some couldn't exist just fine in the Upper Midwest.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I had a women contact my office the other day stating that she had pseudo-scorpions in her closet. My office is in Northern Ohio (Toledo). Is this possible and what would the treatment be?
ANSWER:
There could be a case of mistaken identity here. Where she says "pseudo" scorpion, which is another name for the small False Scorpions that are found under bark, she may be meaning "wind" or "sun" scorpion, which is more properly called a Solpugid. I suppose it is perfectly possible that you could have either one, but the larger solpugids are more likely to be seen walking around inside a home. These predatory animals are harmless and non-venomous cousins of true scorpions, and rely on a very aggressive nature and excellent shredding mandibles to capture and subdue their prey, which is other small arthropods. They are most common in arid regions such as the Southwest states, but we get them in the mountains of California where it gets cold in the winter, so no reason some couldn't exist just fine in the Upper Midwest.
False scorpions are very small and also are predatory, but they are usually found under bark or leaf litter. They have tiny poison glands in their claws that they use to subdue the tiny insects they feed on, but they are completely harmless to people. I found them in numbers under the wings of a huge beetle in South America one time, likely there to feed on the mites that parasitize the beetle. A win-win for both beetle and false scorpion.
Control is unnecessary other than putting the critter in a jar and placing it back outside where it can serve some benefit to the landscape by eating other bugs. If the customer is too fearful to do this a vacuum works well, and exclusion to seal off entry points under doors in order to keep them outside. If it actually turns out to be the tiny false scorpions and not a Solpugid then they were brought into the house in some material where they were hiding, and examining thing before bringing them in will stop this.
By the way. Solpugids are also erroneously called "camel spiders" and a myth spread around the internet some years ago about the terrible dangers these awful creatures posed to soldiers in Iraq. None of the information spread about them was true, other than the fact that some large species do live in Iraq.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
