Seasonal influence on foraging activity of scorpion species (Arachnida: Scorpiones) in a seasonal tropical dry forest remnant in Brazil

Epidemiological study in Brazil: Scorpion sting cases in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

“…Santos [ 31 ] described that the geographic space is the set of intertwined relationships between functions and forms, corroborating with Max Sorre's theory of the pathogenic complex, describing the relationships between an external environment that varies and an internal environment that needs to adapt to maintain its physiological constants. In this context, the spatialization of accidents can be affected by type of environment, food resources, and the marked difference in climate and predominant species [ 32 ]. The spatial distribution of cases in Natal was heterogeneous, with a predominance of scorpion stings in neighborhoods with low HDI when compared to the other regions evaluated in this approach.…”

“…The high ecological plasticity and parthenogenetic reproduction of scorpions combined with the abundant presence of food and the lack of predators in the urban environment are characteristics that explain the higher occurrence of accidents in urban areas of the municipality of Natal [ 32 ]. On the other hand, it was observed that individuals living in rural areas presented a higher risk of progression to death.…”

Figure 3 from: Foerster SÍA, de Araújo Lira AF, de Almeida CG (2020) Vegetation structure as the main source of variability in scorpion assemblages at small spatial scales and further considerations for the conservation of Caatinga landscapes. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 15(4): 533-550. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.15.e59000

“…The scorpion fauna from the Caatinga domain, for example, contains at least 33 described species (Porto et al 2014;Esposito et al 2017;Lira et al 2017;Santos-da-Silva et al 2017). However, few studies addressing the community ecology of Caatinga scorpions have been published (Araújo et al 2010;Carmo et al 2013;Lira et al 2018Lira et al , 2020.…”