''Pandinus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of large

scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

belonging to the family

Scorpionidae Scorpionidae is a family of burrowing scorpions or pale-legged scorpions in the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Scorpionoidea. The family was established by Pierre André Latreille, 1802. Genera Scorpionidae contains the following genera: * ''Aops ...

. It contains one of the most popular pet scorpions, the emperor scorpion (''P. imperator''). The genus is distributed across

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Taxonomy

The genus was introduced in 1876 by

Tamerlan Thorell Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell (3 May 1830 – 22 December 1901) was a Sweden, Swedish arachnologist. Thorell studied spiders with Giacomo Doria at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale de Genoa. He corresponded with other arachnologists, such as Oc ...

. Subsequent research subdivided the genus into five

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

. In 2015 all five subgenera were raised to genus level.

Diversity

Currently, 4 species are recognized within this genus: *''

Pandinus gambiensis ''Pandinus'' is a genus of large scorpions belonging to the family Scorpionidae. It contains one of the most popular pet scorpions, the emperor scorpion (''P. imperator''). The genus is distributed across tropical Africa. Taxonomy The genus was ...

'' Pocock, 1899 *''

Pandinus imperator The emperor scorpion ''(Pandinus imperator)'' is a species of scorpion native to rainforests and savannas in West Africa. It is one of the largest scorpions in the world and lives for six to eight years. Its body is black, but like other scorpi ...

'' (C. L. Koch, 1841) *''

Pandinus ugandaensis ''Pandinus'' is a genus of large scorpions belonging to the family Scorpionidae. It contains one of the most popular pet scorpions, the emperor scorpion (''P. imperator''). The genus is distributed across tropical Africa. Taxonomy The genus was ...

'' Kovarik, 2011 *''

Pandinus ulderigoi ''Pandinus'' is a genus of large scorpiones, scorpions belonging to the family Scorpionidae. It contains one of the most popular pet scorpions, the Pandinus imperator, emperor scorpion (''P. imperator''). The genus is distributed across tropical ...

'' Rossi, 2014

General characteristics

Members of ''Pandinus'' are generally large scorpions (about 120–200 mm total length), which are dark to black colored, sometimes with paler

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or tagma (biology), tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the mesosoma. In insects, it contains most of the digestive tract, respiratory sy ...

and legs. The

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among Chelicerata, chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to ...

pincers are massive, while the metasoma is proportionally thin with a small vesicle and stinger (aculeus). They possess a stridulatory organ, composed of a rough area on the first segment (coxa) of the pedipalps and a 'scraper' made of bristles on the first segment of their first pair of walking legs. Scraping these bristles on the rough zone produces a scratching sound. Genera of the subfamily Scorpioninae are extremely similar to each other and ''Pandinus'' is especially close to the

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n genus ''

Heterometrus ''Heterometrus'', whose members are also known by the collective vernacular name Asian Forest Scorpion, is a genus of scorpions belonging to the family Scorpionidae. It is distributed widely across tropical and subtropical southeastern Asia, incl ...

''. They differ mainly in details of the stridulatory organ and sensory bristles (

trichobothria Trichobothria (singular trichobothrium) are elongate setae ("hairs") present in arachnids, various orders of insects, and myriapods that function in the detection of airborne vibrations and currents, and electrical charge. In 1883, Friedrich Da ...

Toxicity

As in other Scorpionidae, the venom of ''Pandinus'' species is rather mild, and human fatalities are unknown.

Symptoms Signs and symptoms are diagnostic indications of an illness, injury, or condition. Signs are objective and externally observable; symptoms are a person's reported subjective experiences. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature ...

are mostly restricted to local pain, described similar to those of a

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

sting. At least ''P. imperator'' rarely stings at all, and often prefers to use its massive pincers for prey capture and even for defense. The defensive behavior of the other species is not yet studied in detail.

Habitat

Most species live in

humid Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

low-land regions. They occur in

rain forest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

near rivers and other woodlands aside of

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

habitats. Arabian species also occur in

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

climates. Soft, loamy soils seem to be preferred by most species, but ecology is only well known for the forest-living ''P. imperator''.

Conservational status

Two species of ''Pandinus'' (''P. imperator'', and ''P. gambiensis'') are the only scorpions listed by the

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

Appendix II since 1995, due to

overexploitation Overexploitation, also called overharvesting or ecological overshoot, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to ...

for pet trade from the wild. CITES

export quota Non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs; also called non-tariff measures, NTMs) are trade barriers that restrict imports or exports of goods or services through measures other than the imposition of tariffs. Such barriers are subject to controversy and ...

s have been issued for ''P. imperator'' by several countries in West Africa (including

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

, and

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

). The CITES listing has been conceptually criticized for protecting two species, of which only one (''P. imperator'') is frequently exported for international pet trade. Even in countries with effective quotas, the origin of traded specimens either from farms or from the wild is hardly traceable. Beside of overharvesting, the species are most endangered by habitat destruction due to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

. Traded specimens are sometimes labelled ''"Pandinus africanus"''. This name is an invalid

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

for ''P. imperator'' and apparently used to avoid CITES regulations for this species. However, other - unlisted - species were also traded under this name.

In captivity

The large size, its docile and

gregarious behaviour Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

, partly diurnal activity and mild venom make ''P. imperator'' the most popular pet scorpion. After listing of the species in CITES, commercial scorpion farms have been established in several West African countries.

References

External links

* Images of ''Pandinus'' ''imperator''
Exotics.nl
{{Authority control Scorpionidae Scorpion genera Scorpions of Africa