In Mexico and keep l seeing em around, kinda freaky that I need to be worried about the smaller ones that are harder to see.
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It’s all about the type of venom they have, the size doesn’t directly play a factor. Stinging bugs/spiders/scorpions etc. have venom that is effective for them to hunt their prey. A lot of the time, the venom is enough to deter predators as well, but they don’t need to produce venom that can kill a human, just enough to kill their food. Some species have more concentrated venom and the “why” for that is hard to explain as a whole since it typically is specific to that species. Sometimes it’s because they need a fast acting venom to subdue prey that can easily run, or prey that is too big to fight 1 on 1, so they may have a stronger sting.
However, size does somewhat matter in the sense that larger scorpions typically don’t need strong venom because they’re big enough to fight the things they typically eat, so venom that simply weakens or stuns their prey can be enough.
Volume and concentration. Scientists think that smaller scorpions produce a more potent venom than the larger scorpions, but the other noteworthy theory is that the potency of the poison is the roughly the same for the scorpions, but since the larger ones produce more venom, the overall poison concentration is lower for the large ones and higher for the small ones.
Also, the smaller scorpions are apparently more volatile and less wary than larger scorpions, which makes them doubly dangerous.
It’s not necessarily the size of the scorpion, it’s the size of the scorpion’s pincers. If a scorpion has large claws compared to their body, they can more easily hold onto their prey; a scorpion with small claws needs to be able to stop its prey quickly, or the prey will get away. This trend seems to hold true for most scorpions. Big claws, less venom; small claws, more venom.
The problem arises when people can’t tell the difference between, and the age of, scorpions. At the end of the day it’s just easier to tell people to watch out for the small ones, instead of trying to get people to know the difference between every variety in the area.
There’s a podcast called Ologies that actually does a deep dive on scorpions (I think the episode was called Scorpiology) but basically the smaller the pincers, the more potent its venom needs to be to immobilize prey.
Worth a listen if you want to nerd out a bit. Great way to pass time on long car rides
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