Picture 1: General area in which E. flavicaudis may be found; a view of the Basses-Cevennes, Gard (30, Languedoc, France, (nearest town being Sumene) showing typical Quercus ilex natural habitat, with isolated buildings.

Picture 2: Typical (mostly) dried-up riverbed where scorpions can be found under stones in summer.

Picture 3: Typical rocky environment around a riverbed (same bridge in picture 2); the rocks are mostly micashist, granite and conglomerate, providing masses of rocks in the riverbed under which scorpions live.

Picture 4: As above. Same dry riverbed and surrounding rocky pastures, kept open by grazing sheep.

Picture 5: Dry stone walls provide excellent habitat for scorpions as there are plenty of spaces deep within the walls and between stones. There must be 1000s of kilometres of dry stone walls in the Cevennes as the steep land has been terraced for hundreds of years.

Picture 6: The gnarled and twisted olive stumps provide hiding places for scorpions.

Picture 7: Old Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) tree growing from rocks provide crevices.

Picture 8: A traditional building (here an old bakery) is constructed from split pieces of micashist that provide ideal hiding places for scorpions. The roof is made from large micashist slates, with rocks atop for protection from wind. These old rooftops are excellent places to find both scorpions (and wasps) underneath the tiles.

Text and pictures were kindly supplied by Dr. John Feltwell (C). Homepage.