Mastigoproctus sp.
Common name.—Whip scorpion.
Experimental prey.—Blattella germanica, U.S.A., Florida [Dr. B. J. Kaston, personal communication, 1953].
Order SCORPIONIDA
Pocock (1893) noticed that a scorpion whose pectines had come in contact with a cockroach immediately turned back and ate the insect. He concluded that the scorpion detected the cockroach by means of the pectines. However, Cloudsley-Thompson (1955) has demonstrated that the main function of the pectines is probably the detection of ground vibrations. He accounted for Pocock's observation by the presence of sensory spines (presumably tactile) which project from beneath the pectines. In a house in Arizona, Lyon (1951) observed over 60 scorpions living in a kitchen cabinet that enclosed a sink. They were apparently thriving on a heavy infestation of cockroaches. Stahnke (1953) stated that he used Periplaneta americana as the principal food for scorpions at the Poisonous Animals Research Laboratory of Arizona State College. Cloudsley-Thompson (1955a) cited cockroaches as one of the arthropods that scorpions feed upon.
Family BUTHIDAE