Little is known about the climbing habits of scorpions on plants, despite the interest in this behavior for understanding the connection between above- and below-ground food webs in deserts and to uncover the importance of prey availability and predator avoidance on foraging and habitat selection. Here we report on the foraging of Buthus cf. occitanus (Amoreux 1789) on shrub branches in an arid area in southeastern Spain. Black-light censuses were carried out within six 50 m × 4 m areas in one full and two new moon nights during September and October 2011. Shrub availability was estimated by counting shrubs in 50 m × 1 m areas within each census area. Results showed that nearly 40% of the scorpions, mostly small, 10–20-mm-long individuals, were found foraging on both inner and outer shrub branches up to 80 cm in height. The probability of finding a scorpion on a shrub was inversely related to scorpion size. Selectivity analysis showed that scorpions selected four shrub species, a result that may be related to prey size and availability. Foraging of B. occitanus on shrubs may be favored if this behavior not only allows access to shrub-inhabiting prey, but also reduces predation risk.
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1 April 2013
Foraging of Buthus occitanus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) on shrub branches in an arid area of southeastern Spain
Francisco Sánchez Piñero,
Fernando Urbano Tenorio,
Francisco Jesús Martín García
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The Journal of Arachnology
Vol. 41 • No. 1
April 2013
Vol. 41 • No. 1
April 2013
Above-ground predation
shrub selectivity
size-related behavior