''Heterometrus laoticus'' or Vietnam forest scorpion, is a

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

found in

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

y areas of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

. They can reach lengths of . They are a communal species, but

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

has been known to occur, and if caught, they can be extremely violent even towards their own kind.

Lethality

Rather than being a lethal toxin, the giant scorpion's venom is paralytic. The venom is distilled into medicines against various kinds of microorganisms. It exhibits good results in disc diffusion assay for ''Bacillus subtilis'', ''Klebsiella pneumoniae'', ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'', and ''Staphylococcus aureus'', among others.

As food

The scorpion is farmed for consumption as a novelty food in Vietnam. They are also used to make

snake wine Snake wine (; vi, rượu rắn; km, ស្រាពស់, ) is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. The drink was first recorded to have been consumed in China during the Western Zhou dynasty ...

(scorpion wine).

References

External links

* * * Scorpionidae Animals described in 1981 Arthropods of Laos Invertebrates of Vietnam {{scorpion-stub