The members of this family have a pentagonal sternum and very powerful, broad pedipalps (especially the hands [chelae] of the pedipalps). The scorpionids occupy savannahs, humid forests and rainforests, but some (like Scorpio and many of the Diplocentrids) are found in drier habitats.

Most species in this family are considered to be relatively harmless, but a serious case has been reported for Heterometrus. A few serious cases involving the genus Nebo in the Middle East have also been reported. See species file for more information.

Diplocentridae as a valid family:
In a revision of the higher scorpion systematics, Soleglad & Fet (2003) abolished the family Diplocentridae and included all genera into Scorpionidae. They are closly related to the Scorpionidae, but can be seperated from these by the presence of a subaculear spine on the telson (the Scorpionids lack this feature). In 2017, several researchers treat Diplocentridaee as a valid family (e.g. Santibanez-Lopez, Kriebel & Sharma, 2017). The scorpion Files still lists Diplocentridae as a subfamily, but this is under consideration and may change in the time to come.
August 2019: Diplocentridae is reinstated as family in The Scorpion Files

October 2020: Rugodentus Bastawade et al., 2005 is transferred to the new family Rugodentidae Bastawade et al., 2005. In this Prendini and Loria paper the genus Heterometrus is revised and several new genera are created.

The genus Urodacus was transfered from the abolished family Urodacidae by Soleglad, Fet & Kovarik in April 2005.

Synonyms and subspecies in the genus Opistophthalmus was revised by Lorenzo Prendini in 2001 (Prendini, L. A review of synonyms and subspecies in the genus Opistophthalmus C. L. Koch (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae). African Entomology, 9 (1), pp. 17-48)

Genus Pandinus was revised by Rossi in 2015. See The Scorpion Files News Blog for more details.

The genus Heterometrus was revised by Kovarik in December 2004. The paper has an identification key. The complete paper is available here (free pdf file).

Part of genus Pandinus sensu lata has been revised by Lorenzo Prendini in October 2016

Part of genus Pandinus sensu lata has been given a major revision by Kovarik et al in February 2017 (Open Access paper).

Lourenco, 2009 have reanalyzed the genus Scorpio and given speciesstatus to several taxa. Other subspecies have been investigated by Talal et al., 2015 and given subspecies status. See Family Updates for details.

Scorpio maurus photo (left) by Jeff Dawson (C).
Pandinus imperator photo (right) by Jan Ove Rein (C).

SPECIES FILES:
This list of genera and species is based on Fet et al.(2000). September 2019: Subspecies are included in the list. I try to update the list as additions and changes are published. * denotes changes after Fet et al. (2000). I will be grateful for information about new development in the taxonomy of this family. For information about synonyms and bibliographies, see Fet et al. (2000)
See also Soleglad & Fet (2003) for more information. Fulltext freely available HERE (issue 11).