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What are
scorpions?
Scorpions are members of the arthropod subphylum Chelicerata, whose members bear mouthparts called chelicerae that derived from the first embryological somite. The second somite produces another modified set of appendages, the pedipalps. Following the pedipalps are four pairs of legs. Within the Chelicerata, scorpions represent an order of the class Arachnida defined by the following characters: ¨ chelate pedipalps and chelicerae;
¨
pectines (chemo- and mechanoreceptors used to survey the texture of
the ground surface ¨ the opisthosoma (abdomen) divided into a seven-segmented mesosoma (preabdomen) containing most of the internal organs and five-segmented metasoma (postabdomen); ¨ a telson bearing paired internal venom glands and a terminal sting (aculeus).
See also:
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