How to Identify Arizona's Three Common Scorpions

Three species account for nearly every scorpion sighting in a Phoenix-area home. Only one is medically significant, and you can tell it apart in seconds once you know the field marks.

Arizona is home to more than 40 scorpion species, but East Valley homeowners really only meet three: the Arizona bark scorpion, the stripe-tailed scorpion, and the giant hairy scorpion. Between them they cover almost every scorpion you will find in a garage, on a pool deck, or in a bathtub in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, or Queen Creek.

Telling them apart matters because only one of the three, the bark scorpion, carries venom strong enough to send a person to the hospital. The other two sting roughly like a honey bee. Knowing which species you are looking at changes how worried you should be and how aggressive your control plan needs to get.

Below are the field marks our techs use to identify a scorpion in seconds, plus where each species hides.

If the field marks point to a bark scorpion, see how our scorpion control service addresses the wall, entry points, and hiding spots. Because bark scorpions follow prey, the cricket control approach is often part of reducing pressure rather than treating the predator alone.

This is the only scorpion in the United States whose sting is medically significant. The venom is neurotoxic, and a sting can cause intense pain, numbness, tingling that travels up the limb, and in serious cases muscle twitching and trouble breathing. Small children and the elderly face the highest risk, which is why an antivenom (Anascorp) is stocked in Arizona hospitals.

Bark scorpions are also the only common Arizona species that climbs. They scale stucco, block walls, trees, and ceilings, and can squeeze through a gap about 1/16 of an inch wide. If a scorpion is on your wall, your ceiling, or in your sink, it is almost certainly a bark scorpion.

Stripe-tails are strict ground-dwellers. They shelter under rocks, flagstone, doormats, shoes left outside, and pool toys, they do not climb walls. The sting hurts, but for most people it is comparable to a bee sting: local pain and swelling that fades within hours.

Despite the horror-movie looks, its venom is mild, the sting is generally no worse than a bee's. Giant hairies are burrowers, digging tunnels that can run several feet deep, and they prey on other scorpions. You will see them more on the desert edges of Queen Creek and San Tan Valley than in established neighborhoods.

Location confirms it. Anything climbing a wall or clinging to a ceiling is a bark scorpion. Anything 5 inches or longer is a giant hairy. A stocky scorpion on the ground with dark stripes under the tail is a stripe-tail.

All three fluoresce a bright blue-green under a UV blacklight in the 365 to 395 nanometer range, a compound in the cuticle does the glowing. The exception is a freshly molted scorpion, which stays dark until its new exoskeleton hardens. The best hunting window is one to two hours after dusk on a warm night.

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