Scorpion Sheds ‘Tail’ to Escape: Consequences and Implications of Autotomy in Scorpions (Buthidae: Ananteris)

@article{Mattoni2015ScorpionS,
  title={Scorpion Sheds ‘Tail’ to Escape: Consequences and Implications of Autotomy in Scorpions (Buthidae: Ananteris)},
  author={Camilo I. Mattoni and Solimary Garc{\'i}a-Hern{\'a}ndez and Ricardo Botero-Trujillo and Jos{\'e} A. Ochoa and Andr{\'e}s A. OJANGUREN-AFFILASTRO and Ricardo Pinto‐da‐Rocha and Lorenzo Prendini},
  journal={PLoS ONE},
  year={2015},
  volume={10}
}
Autotomy, the voluntary shedding or detachment of a body part at a determined cleavage plane, is a common anti-predation defense mechanism in several animal taxa, including arthropods. [...] Key Result The severed surface heals rapidly, scar tissue forming in five days. The lost metasomal segments and telson cannot be regenerated. Autotomy of the metasoma and telson results in permanent loss of the posterior part of the scorpion's digestive system (the anus is situated posteriorly on metasomal segment V) and…Expand
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First Record of Autotomy in the Neotropical Scorpion Ananteris cussinii Borelli, 1910 in Trinidad, W.I.
TLDR
This paper serves as a first report of metasomal autonomy occurring in yet another species, Ananteris cussinii in Trinidad, W.I.
The ecology and evolution of autotomy
TLDR
It is found that the ability to drop an appendage has evolved multiple times throughout Animalia and that once autotomy has evolved, selection appears to act on the removable appendage to increase the efficacy and/or efficiency of autotomy.
Losing legs and walking hard: effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
TLDR
It is confirmed that losing legs affects locomotion, and novel insights on how locomotion in these harvestmen depends on surface roughness are provided, which suggest that moss could be a type of substrate that requires more elaborate skills in balance, orientation and texture recognition than smooth bark.
‘Tail’ autotomy and consequent stinger loss decrease predation success in scorpions
TLDR
Using the scorpion Ananteris balzani, which autotomizes the last abdominal segments, it was found that for both small and large prey, subduing success was higher when individuals were intact than when they were autotomized, and the effect size was higher for large prey.
Fitness Implications of Nonlethal Injuries in Scorpions: Females, but Not Males, Pay Reproductive Costs
TLDR
The negative effects of tail autotomized females producing nearly 35% fewer offspring than intact females are clearly sex dependent, probably because the factors that influence reproductive success in males and females are markedly different.
Armed stem to stinger: a review of the ecological roles of scorpion weapons
TLDR
The literature on the functioning and ecological role of both the chelae and the telson is discussed in detail and the differences in morphology or usage between species or higher taxonomic groups, or between genders, are given.
The force needed for leg autotomy in the crab Hemigrapsus nudus
TLDR
The results showed that hind legs require the most amount of force to autotomize compared to claws or middle walking legs, and rejected the null hypothesis that all legs require an equal amount ofForce and the alternate hypothesis that larger legs would require more force than smaller legs.
Risk Assessment and the Effects of Refuge Availability on the Defensive Behaviors of the Southern Unstriped Scorpion (Vaejovis carolinianus)
TLDR
Evidence that scorpions’ defensive behaviors changed based on the number of refuges and that these differences may be sex specific is found, suggesting that V. carolinianus can assess risk and features of the local environment and alter their defensive strategies accordingly.
Life-history traits of the Brazilian litter-dwelling scorpion: post-embryonic development and reproductive behaviour in Ananteris mauryi Lourenço, 1982 (Scorpiones: Buthidae)
ABSTRACT Life-history traits such as post-embryonic development and reproductive strategies have evolved in many ways to enable species to achieve success in their habitats. We herein describe the…
Male mating success in a fiddler crab: a lesson in sample sizes
TLDR
It is shown that, by finding only three cases of a female mating with a regenerateated claw male, that there is, in fact, no mating disadvantage to having a regenerated claw.
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