Lesser Brown Scorpion

A Lesser Brown Scorpion in Hawaii
A Lesser Brown Scorpion in Hawaii
A Lesser Brown Scorpion in Hawaii

Lesser Brown Scorpions (Isometrus maculatus) are small, shy, and mostly active at night. This is why I’d only seen two here before. One was dead in a box, flattened by the items I was unpacking. The other was alive, but not well. It looked like it had been stepped on.

These photos are of my third encounter, which happened recently. I was getting rid of accumulated odds and ends in the office at work, when I opened up a large, yellow bag that had been stowed there for a year or so. When I looked in, I saw this very much alive and active scorpion.

I took the bag outside, grabbing my camera on the way, and then tried getting some photos, with the help of others in the crew. It was hard to get anything decent because the scorpion scurried around seeking cover. We decided to tip it out onto the tiles. This made the process a bit easier, though not because the scorpion settled down any. It was just as active and every time I looked in the viewfinder it seemed to be making a beeline for me!

After a while I ushered it off the tiles and it scurried away, under the lanai. And while it looks imposing in these photos, it was less than two inches long overall. I’ve read that the sting of these scorpions is similar to a bee sting and not dangerous unless a person is allergic to the toxins. I didn’t feel a need to find out for myself.

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