Many areas of the country have to deal with unwanted pests. Spiders, ants, mosquitoes, termites and roaches are common visitors from the East coast all the way to the West coast. But when it comes to pest control, Phoenix has some unusual and resilient critters that aren’t found in every state. In particular, Phoenix and the desert Southwest has to deal with scorpions.
Scorpions are eight-legged venomous invertebrates belonging to the class Arachnida, and the order Scorpions. They are related to spiders, mites, ticks, and harvestmen as well as other members of the Arachnida class. They possess an extended body and a segmented, erectile tail ending with the telson (the sting). There are roughly 1,300 species of scorpions worldwide. You’ll know you’ve found a scorpion because of its crablike appearance, four pairs of legs, pair of pincers and long, segmented tail that curls up with a stinger on the end.
About 90 species of scorpion are found in the U.S. All but four of these naturally occur west of the Mississippi River and are abundant in semi-arid regions. The highest concentration of scorpions are found in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas; making pest control in these areas particularly important.