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Sticker of Flat rock scorpion
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Flat rock scorpion

Hadogenes troglodytes
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsScorpions, ticks and friendsDeserts and dry places8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The flat rock scorpion is a very long scorpion with a black body and pale yellow legs. It is as flat as a pancake, so it can slide into narrow cracks between rocks.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
Rocky hills in southern Africa, in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Length
20 cm (7.9 in)
up to
Top speed
about 3.7 km/h (2.3 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting
What does it eat?
It hunts insects at night, even ones as big as itself.
For real!Photo of Flat rock scorpion
Picture by Maans Booysen, Birding Weto. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Flat rock scorpion about 20 cm long (7.9 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 6 toy building bricks in a rowas long as 1 bananas end to endcould run across a dinner table in 1 seconds

How big is Flat rock scorpion compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It used to be thought the longest scorpion in the world, at up to 20 centimetres.

2

It often spends its whole life going up and down the same pile of rocks.

3

It cannot travel far across sand, because its curved claws are made for gripping rock.

4

It uses its tail like a broom to sweep away dirt when it digs a new hiding place.

you asked

Most asked questions about Flat rock scorpion

?How big is the flat rock scorpion?

It can be up to 20 centimetres long, one of the longest scorpions.

?Why is the flat rock scorpion so flat?

Being flat lets it squeeze into thin cracks in rocks to hide.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Hadogenes troglodytes
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Hormuridae
Classification
Arachnida > Scorpiones > Hormuridae
Lives on
Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Hadogenes troglodytes (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Maans Booysen, Birding Weto. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Scorpions, ticks and friends

Also at home here: Deserts and dry places