@article{Mahsberg1986,
  author    = {Mahsberg, Dieter},
  title     = {Contact chemoreception of prey in hunting scorpions},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-45784},
  year      = {1986},
  abstract  = {Scorpions commonly are assumed to hunt on living prey. But under laboratory conditions they also respond very sensitively to dead insects lying on the substrate. In many cases the motionless prey is seized and consumed. It was investigated how this behavior can be elicited. The buthid scorpions Androctonus australis (L.) and Buthus occitanus (Am.) not only find motionless prey again which was stung but managed to escape before dying: They also respond to extracts of the cuticle of prey insects. After touching prey marks' either with the tips of the chelae fingers or the tarsi of the walking legs or the pectine organs specific responses (searching, seizing, feeding) are released at a high rate. Behavioral experiments demonstrate for the first time the chemosensitivity of the pectine organs for which only mechanosensitivity had been proofed formerly. Mechanical as well as contact chemical stimulation of these organs cause scorpions to orient towards the stimulus source which is grasped, retained and consumed or rejected depending on its quality. The probably responsible chemosensitive receptors are already described in the literature. The possible adaptive value and the biological significance of contact chemoreception in prey catching and in other aspects of the life of scorpions is discussed.},
  subject      = {Skorpion},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{Mahsberg1990,
  author    = {Mahsberg, Dieter},
  title     = {Brood care and family cohesion in the tropical scorpion Pandinus imperator (Koch) (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae)},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-45776},
  year      = {1990},
  abstract  = {Pandinus imperator is a forest dweller of tropical West Africa. In the field, lobserved aggregations of up to 15 individuals. In the laboratory, mixed age groups of related and also unrelated animals lived jointly in terraria rarely showing within-group aggression or cannibalism. Brood-caring behavior of the mother influenced growth rate and survival probability of the young. With birth, mothers became very aggressive. To study family cohesion in Pandinus, experiments with family groups were conducted. Siblings aggregated around their mother. In choice experiments with two family groups, mothers were placed in enclosures that only the young were able to enter or to leave. Second instars significantly preferred the enclosure containing their own mother. Aggression among unrelated young of the same age was not observed. Feeding experiments studied the possible advantages of long-Iasting group living with regard to enhanced success in prey capture and its effect on growth of the young. Even groups of second instars were unable to subdue large prey on their own. Sibling groups with their mother removed suffered high mortality due to starvation and cannibalism compared to groups with mothers present. Here, young grew significantly faster: they shared the prey that only the mother was able to kill and dismember. Pandinus imperator has to be considered an intermediate subsocial scorpion.},
  subject      = {Skorpion},
  language  = {en}
}