Scorpions can lose their tail to prevent predation

When a animal voluntarily sheds part of its body, often as a result of predation it is called autotomy; this occurs at a defined cleavage plane, as shown by the black lines on the above picture. When cleavage occurs at these sites it minimizes damage to the animal and aids with the rapid sealing of fluids called hemolymph. In scorpions this means that often the stinger and the anus is lost as they never grow back, this means that the scorpion can no-longer defend itself/inject venom (hunt) or pass feces.
A team of scientists led by Camilo Mattoni from Unversidad nacional de Cordoba went out into the field and turned over rocks, using UV at night, marking where detachments occurred on the scorpions. In the lab they observed museum specimens that displayed autotomy and conducted a experiment with the species (Ananteris solimariae) holding onto the metasoma (Posterior end of scorpion) with forceps and gently pulling backwards to see where cleavage occured.

In 22 out of 25 males studied cleavage occured at joints between the metasomal segments I, II, II and III and III and IV (see pic below for reference) allowing the scorpion to escape. Females and juveniles either showed one instance (female) or not at all (juvenile). After detachment the parts kept on wiggling for over a minute which, may aid in distracting the predator away from the escaping scorpion and in 47% of cases the detached tail attempted to sting.
The area around the detachment heals quickly and scar tissue forms within five days but the lost parts do not regenerate preventing the scorpion from being able to defecate and reducing it to only being able to catch small prey using their mouth parts only. The bodies eventually start to swell as a result of the inability to pass feces and some even experienced a second autotomy as a result of this however, most of the males survived and even mated with females up to 8 months after autotomy.

To view the original paper click here
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