It is generally stated that most scorpions are generalist prey on a wide diversity of animals (including other scorpions). In spite of this generalization and "common knowledge", there are few systematic studies on the diet composition of many scorpion species.
Dionisio-da-Silva and co-workers have recently published a study of the prey composition of scorpions from different environments in Brazil. A generalist diet and cases of cannibalism are reported.
Abstract:
The overall assumption that scorpions are generalist predators is often based on conspicuous information from the literature. Here, we compiled a list of prey consumption by scorpions from different environments in Brazil to produce a documentation of predations by this taxon. This list is based on observations made under natural conditions in Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, and Cerrado formations. We compiled 135 predation instances including 11 scorpion species from field work through 14 years. The observed diet composition of the scorpions was mainly based on cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, and other scorpions. Such data highlights the generalist diet and cannibalism of scorpions with many cannibalistic events among the records of intraguild predation. Overall, this study broadens the knowledge of the diet composition of Brazilian scorpions under natural conditions.
Reference:
Dionisio-da-Silva W, Foerster SIA, Gallao JE, Lira AFA. What's for dinner? Prey consumption by Neotropical scorpions across contrasting environments. J Arachnol. 2024;52:26-30. [Sunscription required for full text]
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