Scientific name:
Androctonus australis (Ewing, 1928)

Common names:
This scorpion is known as the Fat Tailed Scorpion, due to its powerful cauda.

Distribution:
Africa (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, libya, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia) and Asia (India, Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen).

Habitat:
This scorpion is found in dry habitats/desert areas. It is found in stony soils, cactus hedges, arid mountainous regions and high plateaux. It can also be found on steep slopes of drifting sand dunes. It avoid humid costal areas. The scorpion dosen't dig large burrows, but hide under stones and in natural crevices. This species is unfortunately often found near human habitations (in cracks in walls etc. made of stones and bricks).

Description:
This scorpion is a medium sized scorpion which can get up to 10 cm in lenghts. It has a very tick and powerful cauda. Overall coloration is yellow, with the palpal pincers sometimes darker (please note that this species variates in colors). The last segments of the cauda is sometimes darker than the rest of the cauda.

Venom:
This is one of the worldst most dangerous scorpion, with a very potent venom. This species are medical important, and cause several deaths each year. Two different sources list LD 50 values of 0.32 and 0.75 mg/kg.

Symptoms:

Treatment:

Epidemiology/Statistics:

Case Reports:

Selected litterature:
Bonnet, M.S.1997. Toxicology of Androctonus scorpion. Br. Homoeopathic Journal, 86: 142-151.

Schiejok, H. 1996. Androctonus australis (Linnaeus, 1758). Eine monographie. Skorpion News, Remscheid: Buthus-Fachverlag. 38 pp.

Junghanss, T. & Bodio, M. 1996. Notfall-Handbuch Gifttiere. Georg Thime Verlag. 646 pp. Abroug, F. et al. 1991. Cardiac dysfunctioning and pulmonary edema following scorpion envenomation. Chest, 100(4): 1057-1059.

Goyffon, M., M. Vachon, et al. 1982. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the scorpion evenomation in Tunisia. Toxicon, 20(1): 337-344.

Schmidbauer, H. 1982. Erfahrungen bei der nachsuch von Sahara-Dickschwanzskorpion. Herpetofauna, June: 16-21.

Keegan, H. L. 1980 Scorpions of Medical Importance. Fitzgerald Publishing, England. 142 pp.

On the Internet:
Pascal Riewes work on A. australis.
Gifttier Informationsdienst on A. australis.

Remarks:
This species is beeing kept in captivity, both in Europe and in the US. This means that sting accidents might happend outside the species natural distribution.

Androctonus australis photo by Pascal Riewe (C)