''Centruroides'' 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 ...

scorpion 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 ...

s of the family

Buthidae The Buthidae are the largest family of scorpions, containing about 100 genera and 1339 species as of 2022. A few very large genera ('' Ananteris'', '' Centruroides'', '' Compsobuthus'', or '' Tityus'') are known, but a high number of species-poor ...

. Several

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n species are known by the common

vernacular name Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More n ...

bark scorpion. Numerous

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are extensively found throughout the southern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Some are known for their interesting patterning or large size (among Buthidae); most if not all

fluoresce Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...

strongly under

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

illumination, except after

moulting In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at ...

. They contain several highly venomous species, and fatalities are known to occur. The venom of the Mexican scorpion ''Centruroides limpidus limpidus'' contains the

neurotoxin Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nervous tissue, nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insult (medical), insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function ...

s Cll1 and Cll2.

Taxonomy

The number of species accepted as valid may vary, depending on the authority. The genus is highly speciose, containing at least 100 species: * '' Centruroides alayoni'' Armas, 1999 * '' Centruroides altagraciae'' Teruel, de Armas & Kovarik, 2015 * '' Centruroides anchorellus'' Armas, 1976 * '' Centruroides arctimanus'' Armas, 1976 * '' Centruroides baergi'' Hoffmann, 1932 * '' Centruroides balsasensis'' Ponce & Francke, 2004 * '' Centruroides bani'' Armas & Marcano Fondeur, 1987 * '' Centruroides baracoae'' Armas, 1976 * '' Centruroides barbudensis'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides berstoni'' Goodman, Prendini, Francke & Esposito, 2021 * '' Centruroides bertholdii'' (Thorell, 1876) * '' Centruroides bicolor'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides bonito'' Quijano-Ravell, Teruel & Ponce-Saavedra, 2016 * '' Centruroides caral'' Armas & Trujillo, 2013 * '' Centruroides caribbeanus'' Teruel & Myers, 2017 * '' Centruroides chamela'' Ponce-Saavedra & Francke, 2011 * '' Centruroides chamulaensis'' Hoffmann, 1932 * '' Centruroides catemacoensis'' Goodman, Prendini, Francke & Esposito, 2021 * '' Centruroides chanae'' Goodman, Prendini, Francke & Esposito, 2021 * '' Centruroides chiapanensis'' Hoffmann, 1932 * '' Centruroides concordia'' Armas & Teruel, 2021 * '' Centruroides cuauhmapan'' Goodman, Prendini, Francke & Esposito, 2021 * '' Centruroides edwardsii'' (Gervais, 1843) * '' Centruroides elegans'' (Thorell, 1876) * '' Centruroides exilicauda'' (Wood, 1863) * '' Centruroides exilimanus'' Teruel & Stockwell, 2002 * '' Centruroides exsul'' (Meise, 1933) * '' Centruroides fallassisimus'' Armas & Trujillo, 2010 * '' Centruroides farri'' Armas, 1976 * '' Centruroides flavopictus'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides franckei'' Santibanez-Lopez & Contreras-Felix, 2013 * '' Centruroides fulvipes'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides galano'' Teruel, 2001 * '' Centruroides gracilis'' (Latreille, 1804) * '' Centruroides granosus'' (Thorell, 1876) * '' Centruroides griseus'' (C. L. Koch, 1844) * '' Centruroides guanensis'' Franganillo, 1930 * '' Centruroides hamadryas'' Goodman, Prendini, Francke & Esposito, 2021 * '' Centruroides hentzi'' (Banks, 1900) * '' Centruroides hirsuticauda'' Teruel, 2011 * '' Centruroides hirsutipalpus'' Ponce-Saavedra & Francke, 2009 * '' Centruroides hoffmanni'' Armas, 1996 * '' Centruroides huichol'' Teruel, Ponce-Saavedra & Quijano-Ravell, 2015 * '' Centruroides infamatus'' (C. L. Koch, 1844) * '' Centruroides insulanus'' (Thorell, 1876) * '' Centruroides ixil'' Trujillo & Armas, 2016 * '' Centruroides jaragua'' Armas, 1999 * '' Centruroides jorgeorum'' Santiago-Blay, 2009 * '' Centruroides koesteri'' Kraepelin, 1912 * '' Centruroides lauriadnae'' Ponce-Saavedra & Francke, 2019 * '' Centruroides limbatus'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides limpidus'' (Karsch, 1879) * '' Centruroides luceorum'' Armas, 1999 * '' Centruroides lucidus'' Teruel, Armas & Kovarik, 2015 * '' Centruroides marcanoi'' Armas, 1981 * '' Centruroides margaritatus'' (Gervais, 1841) * '' Centruroides mascota'' Ponce-Saavedra & Francke, 2011 * '' Centruroides meisei'' Hoffmann, 1939 * '' Centruroides melanodactylus'' Teruel, 2001 * '' Centruroides navarroi'' Teruel, 2001 * '' Centruroides nigrescens'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides nigrimanus'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides nigropunctatus'' Teruel, 2006 * '' Centruroides nigrovariatus'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides nitidus'' (Thorell, 1876) * '' Centruroides noxius'' Hoffmann, 1932 * '' Centruroides ochraceus'' (Pocock, 1898) * '' Centruroides orizaba'' Armas & Martin-Frias, 2003 * '' Centruroides ornatus'' Pocock, 1902 * '' Centruroides pallidiceps'' Pocock, 1902 * '' Centruroides panamensis'' Arias & Esposito, 2014 * '' Centruroides platnicki'' Armas, 1981 * '' Centruroides pococki'' Sissom & Francke, 1983 * '' Centruroides polito'' Teruel, 2007 * '' Centruroides poncei'' Teruel, Kovarik, Baldazo-Monsivais & Hoferek, 2015 * '' Centruroides possanii'' Gonzalez-Santillan, Galan-Sanchez & Valdez-Velazquez, 2019 * '' Centruroides rileyi'' Sissom, 1995 * '' Centruroides robertoi'' Armas, 1976 * '' Centruroides rodolfoi'' Santibanez-Lopez & Contreras-Felix, 2013 * '' Centruroides romeroi'' Quijano-Ravell, De Armas, Francke & Ponce-Saavedra, 2019 * '' Centruroides ruana'' Quijano-Ravell & Ponce-Saavedra, 2016 * '' Centruroides sanandres'' Armas, Sarmiento & Florez, 2012 * '' Centruroides sasae'' Santiago-Blay, 2009 * '' Centruroides schmidti'' Sissom, 1995 * '' Centruroides sculpturatus'' Ewing, 1928 * '' Centruroides serrano'' Santibanez-Lopez & Ponce-Saavedra, 2009 * '' Centruroides simplex'' (Thorell, 1876) * '' Centruroides sissomi'' Armas, 1996 * '' Centruroides spectatus'' Teruel, 2006 * '' Centruroides stockwelli'' Teruel, 2001 * '' Centruroides suffusus'' (Pocock, 1902) * '' Centruroides tapachulaensis'' Hoffmann, 1932 * '' Centruroides tecomanus'' Hoffmann, 1932 * '' Centruroides tenuis'' Thorell, 1876 * '' Centruroides testaceus'' (DeGeer, 1778) * '' Centruroides thorellii'' (Kraepelin, 1891) * '' Centruroides tuxtla'' Armas, 1999 * '' Centruroides underwoodi'' Armas, 1976 * '' Centruroides villegasi'' Baldazo-Monsivaiz, Ponce-Saavedra & Flores-Moreno, 2013 * '' Centruroides vittatus'' (Say, 1821) * '' Centruroides yucatanensis'' Goodman, Prendini, Francke & Esposito, 2021

References

{{Authority control Scorpions of South America