Scorpions sneaking into luggage, goods etc. and ending up as stowaways in non-scorpion countries is quite common. Several cases have been documented in journals and newspapers. A recent case from England was published by Rony E. Trujillo and co-workers. In this case, a female Centruroides thorellii (Kraepelin, 1891) (Buthidae) from Guatemala was found in the luggage of a family in England (that recently had visited Guatemala).
Abstract:
We recorded a pregnant female of the Central American bark stripped scorpion Centruroides thorellii (Kraepelin, 1891), which arrived to England as a stowaway in the bag of a woman that previously visited the Departments of Sacatepéquez, Sololá and San Marcos, Guatemala. On January 2, this C. thorellii female had a litter of three off-spring and three infertile eggs, but she has eaten them, probably as consequence of the stress caused by the hard travel and the environmental changes. We provide a map with the geographical distribution of this species and photos of the female detected in a British train.
Reference:
Trujillo RE, De Armas LF, Mansfield D. Centruroides thorellii (Scorpiones: Buthidae): Traveling from Guatemala to England Without a Passport. Euscorpius. 2017(239):1-4. [Open Access]
Thanks to Rony E. Trujillo for sending me his paper!
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