Scorpion (Wild Animals by Papo)

Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972

Today I want to introduce you to a creepy crawly that is probably even more abhorred or feared than its close relatives, the spiders. Where I live this is mainly an abstract fear, as there are no scorpions here as of yet (let’s see what climate change brings us within the next 20 years). However, few of my fellow Western Europe citizens are aware that there are indeed European species of scorpions. Most people seem to place these animals in deserts or at least very hot countries. That is only partly true, but indeed scorpions have their species hotspots in the warmer and drier parts of our world.

Depending on the scientific view one may accept up to 2500 different species and here we come to one of the problems with this figure. A great lot of scorpion species are distinguishable only by the very experienced arachnologist on close examination and Papo’s figure, while great in detail, is not assigned to a specific species. However, it most-likely represents the yellow fattail scorpion Androctonus australis, what makes a certain sense as it is a genus with its main distribution in North Africa and the Middle East, and Papo seems to have a certain favor for species of their own continent or region.

It sure is a well made figure and can easily fool the unexpecting victim. While its fairly massive size (for a scorpion) could easily give it away, most people would not recognize this in the moment of surprise. In straight horizontal measure its 8.5 cm long, its pedipalps (claws) span 5 cm and the metasoma (tail) is raised to 5.5 cm. The legs are reasonably thin (or thick, whatever you prefer) but do not end in tiny claws, that however, can easily be overlooked. The tuberculous pedipalps have their hinges rightly placed on the underside (unlike in crabs on the upper side) and the four eye spots and small chelicerae (mouth parts) bestow it the “evil”, lifeless look one might expect. The coloration with a dirt sand color on the mesosoma (rump) and brick red in the prosoma (head) is attractive and well applied.

It is sure a great toy in its “ready-to-strike” position, made of durable PVC and rich in detail. Not only suitable for children on Halloween, but also year around to scare the sh*t out of your neighbour.