Jonzjob Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I was cuting back our ivy around the kitchen window just now and I felt something on my fore arm! To my consternation I was looking at the first scorpion I've seen here in France!! I managed to get a few photos of it after I had very carefully removed it!Here is one of them!!!Has anyone else seen anything lke this? It doesn't have a sting in its tail though. [IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Hugescorpion1.jpg[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I have come across a couple of small ones before, but yours does not seem to have a tail...?[IMG]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/clair46/Hugescorpion1.jpg[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I think it's a pseudoscorpion Google English translation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRoss Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 We got something like this in the UK one hot summer. I think they may be false or pseudoscorpions...............JRSee http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/fscorp.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 There is also a colony of European scorpions at Sheerness harbour in Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-element Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 But pseudoscorpions are tiny, up to 4mm only???Jon, yours does look like a pseudoscorpion, but how big was it? 2-4mm, or 2-4cm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 I think that Cat has it. Just as well it wasn't too big!!![IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Hugescorpion4.jpg[/IMG]That's the tip of a pencil. I had to get a magnifying glass to see what the tiny thing really was and when it was on me it was quite happily picking and munching things off of my skin![:-))]I do love the wild life here, well almost all of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 We've had a couple complete with stings at our 2nd floor apartment in France; one on the balcony, and one in the bathroom. Our next door neighbours have also had them. They were fairly small, and quite sweet really; they were about 3cm long, I guess.GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Perhaps they are like the Venus de Milo, and had some bits chopped off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maricopa Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Jonzjob, I am amazed that is the first (not even proper[6]) scorpion you have seen. They are ten a penny where I live, I probably see them once ot twice a week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-element Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Same as Maricopa here - but of course, we are in the same general area. Last time, I was sitting on the loo upstairs wearing flip-flops, and one ran across my foot ,EEK! looking like a much larger brother to Jon's tiny pseudo, and it was complete with tail and sting. Those are sort of house-scorpions, they like dark, damp and cool, so they often go inside houses in the summer. They do sting, although it is not worse than a bee sting (apparently). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 That's interesting, 5-element, although the one on our balcony happily pottered around in hot sun for a long time; there were cool parts out of the sun, but it didn't go there. Hope they don't sting me; I'm allergic to wasp stings, don't know about bee stings, and stings from these chaps remain an unknown. I have to carry my epipens in France over a very much longer season than in UK, with spares over there.GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-element Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I know there is a larger type, around here, which tends to sunbathe on rocks. It is much more venomous, much lighter in colour than those dark little chaps we find in showers, under logs and carpets here. I have only come across the dark brown-black small ones in and around the house. I remember someone writing that they got stung when putting on their trainers without shaking them first.[:'(] but he'd said it was not worse than a wasp's sting - that is, if you don't have an allergy. No idea whether you would be allergic to scorpions' sting too, I have no idea what the toxins are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil & Pat Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I saw something yesterday that I initially took to be a scorpion, but now I'm not sure. It was black, about 3cm long, with (apparently) 6 legs and 2 very small 'pincers' (or whatever they are called) and a flattened abdomen about 5mm wide. It did not appear to have a distinct 'tail' but definitely arched its back end up and over when provoked, just like a scorpion.In Calvados, late October but very mild, and it was walking briskly over tarmac. Any ideas what it might have been?Pity I didn't have my camera with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Try this.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_coach_horse_beetleChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil & Pat Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Spot on Chris, thank you again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-element Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 [quote user="chris pp"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_coach_horse_beetle[/quote]Thank you for that: it resolves a 7-year old mystery for me: when we first moved into our house, I found one of those darting on the kitchen floor in the night, and had been unable to identify it ever since. No wonder I found it rather sinister at the time, I am obviously not the only one to have been spooked by it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 A good description invariably makes it easy.[:D]Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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