Scorpions

Scorpions of the Malay Peninsula and Siam were first systematically documented in a 1901 faunal survey by Captain Stanley S. Flower, 5th Fusiliers, who drew on four years of fieldwork (1895–1898) across the Straits Settlements, the Native States, and Siam to produce a practical taxonomic account for European residents encountering these animals in daily life [1, p. 1]. Flower’s work, published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, identified eight species of true scorpion (Order Scorpiones) from the region, recording their distribution, morphology, colour, size, and behaviour across at least fifteen localities [1, pp. 29–36].

Taxonomy and Distribution

Flower divided the regional scorpions into two families: Buthidæ, characterised by a small, triangularly pointed sternum and two spurs on the articular membrane of the tarsus, and Scorpionidæ, with a broad pentagonal sternum and a single spur [1, p. 29]. The Buthidæ comprised three species: Archisometrus mucronatus (the Sharp Scorpion), widely distributed from Burma to Japan and recorded by Flower in Bangkok, Ayuthia, the Dong Phya Phai, Kabin, Chantaboon, and Kosichang; Archisometrus scutilus, a small yellowish-brown form with long attenuated claws, found on Penang Hill at 1,900 and 2,260 feet; and Isometrus maculatus, a cosmopolitan species caught in Penang, Singapore, Kedah, and reportedly in Bangkok [1, pp. 30–34]. The Scorpionidæ included five species: Chærilus agilis (the Agile Scorpion), discovered by H. N. Ridley at the Batu Caves, Selangor, and described by R. J. Pocock in 1899; Chærilus rectimanus (the Straight-handed Scorpion), also discovered by Ridley in Singapore; Pulamnæus oatesii (Oates’ Scorpion), known to the Kedah Malays as “Kala,” a large dark olive-green form reaching 107 mm; Palamneus silenus, called “Mengpon chang” (Elephant Scorpion) by the Siamese, the largest species recorded at 135 mm from Chantaboon; and Hormurus australasiae (the Tree Scorpion, “Mengpon-ton”), a small dark brown form found under tree bark on Penang Hill and in Siam [1, pp. 34–36].

Behaviour and Medical Significance

Flower provided detailed observations on the natural history of these animals. Archisometrus mucronatus was strictly nocturnal, hiding in crevices by day and roaming for food at night; Flower documented its feeding behaviour in a diary entry of 15 December 1897, describing the scorpion seizing moths in its chelæ, stinging them with its tail, and consuming them with its mandibles [1, pp. 31–32]. The species appeared to be functionally blind in full light, navigating by touch with its extended pectines (comb-like organs on the ventral surface of the second abdominal segment) [1, p. 31]. Flower recorded two cases of human envenomation by A. mucronatus: in the first, an Indian labourer stung in the finger experienced pain radiating to the shoulder, relieved within an hour by immersion in a strong solution of permanganate of potash; in the second, a Siamese woman stung in the foot had pain subsiding in a quarter of an hour under the same treatment [1, pp. 32–33]. The whip scorpion Thelyphonus schimkewitchii, though not a true scorpion, was also noted by Flower to have stung him through the skin, producing a swollen, inflamed finger with a visible puncture wound, contradicting the common assumption that these animals were entirely harmless [1, pp. 38–39].

Research and Documentation

Flower’s 1901 paper represents the most comprehensive early treatment of scorpions in the region, produced within the colonial natural history network linking the Straits Settlements to the British Museum of Natural History. R. J. Pocock, of the British Museum, served as the principal taxonomic authority, identifying specimens, answering questions, and formally describing new species from Flower’s collections, including Chærilus agilis and Chærilus rectimanus [1, pp. 1]. The work was explicitly designed as a practical guide for residents, acknowledging that no existing book or paper provided the information needed to distinguish poisonous from harmless species [1, p. 1]. Flower’s collections were distributed between the British Museum, the Royal Siamese Museum in Bangkok, and the Raffles Museum [1, p. 1]. The paper established baseline distribution records for each species and provided the first clinical documentation of scorpion sting treatment in the region, though Flower himself noted the limits of his observations, stating that nothing seemed to be known about the breeding habits of the larger centipedes and that he had not been able to determine the breeding season of A. mucronatus [1, pp. 22].

MBRAS Sources

• S.S. Flower (1901). Notes on the millipedes, centipedes, scorpions etc., of the Malay Peninsula and Siam. JSBRAS 36: 1–48

References

1. S.S. Flower (1901). Notes on the millipedes, centipedes, scorpions etc., of the Malay Peninsula and Siam JSBRAS 36: 1–48.