📸 PhotoPhoto: Mike Baird · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Emperor scorpion
Pandinus imperator (Emperor scorpion · ダイオウサソリ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 An average body length of about 20 cm is almost equal to the short side of an A4 sheet of paper (21 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 An upper weight limit of 28 g is less than half the weight of a chicken egg (about 60 g) (Comparison).
- 💡 Animal Diversity Web (ADW) notes that in West Africa it is also frequently found near human settlements.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The emperor scorpion is one of the largest scorpions in the world, living in the hot and humid forests of West Africa. It has a glossy black body and large pincers, but its venom is relatively mild.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is glossy black with a pair of large pincers in front and a venomous stinger at the tip of its long tail, and it glows bluish green under ultraviolet light. It senses ground conditions with comb-like sensory organs (pectines) under its abdomen; males have larger pectines while females have larger bodies.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It mainly eats insects and other arthropods, frequently feeding on termites and occasionally catching small vertebrates. Adults tear prey apart with their pincers rather than using their stinger, breed year-round, and give birth to 10–12 young after an average gestation period of 9 months.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 4CBTS
- • wikidata.org — Q1142349
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Emperor scorpion or Imperial scorpion (Pandinus imperat
- • animaldiversity.org — Pandinus imperator
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Shyamal · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Scorpio indicus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.