Scorpions can be found at every corner of the globe and on six of the seven continents, from the southern tip of South America to the arid expanse of the Sahara Desert.
That makes any rigorous accounting of the world’s venomous scorpions — and their various effects on human beings — an extremely tall task. But in a new study published in the journal Toxicon, a team of Florida State University researchers proved they were up to the challenge.
In their report, the team documented 104 species spanning dozens of countries, providing a vital update to the global record of medically significant scorpions, or scorpions whose venom could be alternately gravely harmful or medically beneficial to human beings.
Their work helps modernize the study of scorpion epidemiology and reveals important gaps in the processes by which scorpions are collected, identified and characterized.