New book on the biology of neotropical scorpions

 

André Felipe de Araujo Lira and Edmundo González-Santillán are editors for a brand new book on the biology of neotropical scorpions. This book contains a comprehensive review of all aspects of the scorpions in the important neotropical region, which is known both for its high biodiversity and the high number of medical important species.

About the book [from the publisher]

The Biology of Neotropical Scorpions focuses on comprehensive aspects of scorpions of the Neotropical region, such as public health to biogeographic history. This innovative book is devoted to tackling that lack of knowledge and bringing together a bundle of studies to offer students, researchers, and professionals a comprehensive background to start their research with scorpions as model organisms.

Since 1990 the study of scorpions thrived following the tradition focusing on the Palearctic and Neartic fauna, leaving behind ancient and important scorpion fauna localised in the Neotropics. The Neotropical region encompasses the tropical areas from South America to central Mexico, including the Antilles, comprising different biomes in their extension, such as deserts, dry forests, savannas, mountain ranges, and rainforests. These myriad environments influenced scorpions from their venom composition, morphology, and their human interactions.

Many researchers from different areas and countries have generated a growing piece of information about Neotropical scorpions, but this still is fragmentary. This book innovates in the biology of scorpion fluorescence, chromosomal and molecular genetics, conservation ecology, and ethnobiology of scorpions from the perspective of traditional medicine.

Table of content:

1 What Are the Neotropical Scorpions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
André Felipe de Araujo Lira
2 Allometry and the Evolution of Sexual Size Dimorphism
in Scorpions: Insights from Neotropical Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Stênio Ítalo Araújo Foerster
3 Mating or Not? Reproductive Aspects of Sexual Reproduction
and Parthenogenesis in Neotropical Scorpions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Gracielle de Fátima Braga-Pereira and André Felipe de Araujo Lira
4 Luminescence and Other Optical Characteristics of Scorpion’s
Exoskeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Daniel López-Cabrera, Gabriel Ramos-Ortiz,
Montserrat G. Rivera-Ortiz, Edmundo González-Santillán,
and Rafael Espinosa-Luna
5 Diversity, Taxonomy, and Distribution of Neotropical Scorpions . . . 69
Edmundo González-Santillán, José Antonio Ochoa,
and Andrés Alejandro Ojanguren-Afilastro
6 Advances in the Phylogenomic Relationships of Neotropical
Scorpions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Carlos E. Santibáñez-López and Prashant P. Sharma
7 Fossil Scorpions, with a Focus on the Neotropical Species . . . . . . . . . 151
Jason A. Dunlop
8 Biogeography of Neotropical Scorpions: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Adriano Medeiros DeSouza
and Alessandra Rodrigues Santos de Andrade
9 Subterranean and Troglomorphic Scorpions from the Neotropics . . . 199
Edmundo González-Santillán, Javier Blasco-Aróstegui,
and Jairo A. Moreno-González 
10 Functional Morphology of Predatory and Defensive Behaviour
in Neotropical Scorpions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Yuri Simone
11 Sampling Techniques for Scorpions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Nancy Lo-Man-Hung and Andria de Paula Santos-da-Silva
12 Cytogenetics of Neotropical Scorpions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Bruno Rafael Ribeiro de Almeida, Jonas Gama Martins,
and Renata Coelho Rodrigues Noronha
13 Neotropical Scorpions as Useful Models for Ecological Studies . . . . . 289
André Felipe de Araujo Lira
14 Traditional Treatment of Scorpion Stings in the Neotropics . . . . . . . 307
Jonas Gama Martins, Bruno Rafael Ribeiro de Almeida,
Pedro Pereira de Oliveira Pardal,
and Rudi Emerson de Lima Procópio
15 Neotropical Scorpion Venom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Juana María Jiménez-Vargas, Jimena Isaias Cid-Uribe,
and Rita Restano-Cassulini
16 Scorpionism in Neotropics: Public Health Issues and Prevention . . . 353
Clara Guerra-Duarte and Ana Luiza Bittencourt Paiva
17 Managing Scorpionism: Envenomation, Diagnostics,
and Therapeutic Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Manuela B. Pucca, Isabela C. dos Santos, and Felipe A. Cerni
18 Perspectives on Biology and Interactions with Humans
of Neotropical Scorpions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Edmundo González-Santillán
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Reference:
Lira AFA, Gonzalez-Santillan E, editors. The Biology of Neotropical Scorpions. From Taxonomy and Genetics to Ecology and Ethnobiology: Springer; 2026. [The book is available in an electronic version or in a printed version, but both require payment or subscription]