Black Hills Scorpions
Although not many people are aware of it, there are scorpions in South Dakota. Gary Marrone and I first learned this while turkey hunting in the southern Black Hills, probably about 1974, if I remember correctly. We found small scorpions under rocks while trying to catch sagebrush lizards. On May 24, 2003 I returned to the area to see if I could find more. An hour of searching turned up two. The next day I met Dan Snethen and we went scorpion collecting. We ended the day with nine scorpions.
The first and only published records that I can find of scorpions in South Dakota is in the 1923 issue of Science. (Vol. LVIII). R. L. Webster, North Dakota Agricultural College, reports on some collections of scorpions in North Dakota. He mentioned specimens taken "years ago" from Fort Pierre, Dakota, in the old Marx collection at the U.S. National Museum in Washington D.C. The species in the article is Vejovis boreus Girard. The species is now named the northern scorpion, Paruroctonus boreus.
Steve Thompson, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, knows of a site in Harding County, South Dakota where scorpions have been collected. I've been looking for scorpions here in the Pierre area, where the early collections were made but have not found any.
