Kingdom Animalia Class Arachnida Family Hemiscorpiidae Scientific name Hadogenes bicolor | Phylum Arthropoda Order Scorpiones Genus Hadogenes Rank Species | |
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Similar Hadogenes, Hadogenes troglodytes, Hadogenes paucidens, Hadogenes gracilis, Androctonus auxi | ||
Hadogenes bicolor is a species of scorpion endemic to South Africa.
Contents
Description
The legs, tail and chelicerae of H. bicolor are paler than the carapace, forming a marked colour contrast.
Distribution and ecology
Hadogenes bicolor is endemic to Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, South Africa. It lives only in rocky outcrops along the Drakensberg escarpment at altitudes of 1,200–2,000 metres (3,900–6,600 ft). It lives in crevices in dolerite and granite rocks in areas with an annual rainfall of 600–1,100 millimetres (24–43 in).
Taxonomy
Hadogenes bicolor was first described by W. F. Purcell in 1899, based on material collected by the Reverend J. W. Daneel "about twenty miles east of Pietersburg [now Polokwane], Zoutpansberg Distr., Transvaal". The name Hadogenes bicolor has previously been used to cover animals now recognised as three separate species, H. bicolor, H. longimanus and H. newlandsi. Many of the scorpions sold in the pet trade as H. bicolor are actually H. troglodytes.