D  e  s  e  r  t     E  x  p  o  s  u  r  e     July 2005

The Scorpion King

Scorpions, spiders, centipedes. . . science educator Paul Hyder knows all about the scary stuff out there in the desert and says you shouldn't be afraid—mostly.

By Jeff Berg

I first saw Paul Hyder during the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum's "Beyond Bugs" Day several months ago. Hyder's display table was set up just as you came into the museum, and it was hard to miss him and the rather large Sonoran Desert Hairy Scorpion crawling up and down his arm. The expected comments of "ewwww" and "oh, wow" were overlooked, until one young boy showed more than a passing interest in the creature. The lad, perhaps six or seven, marched right up to Hyder and the scorpion, and was soon almost nose to nose (assuming scorpions even have noses) with the arthropod.

His curiosity was rewarded with a goodly amount of information, which followed a cautionary reminder that the creature, although seemingly docile, could inflict a painful sting.

The solpugid family of arachnids numbers more than 900 species.

Born and raised in Albuquerque, Paul Hyder has had ample opportunity to learn about most of the scorned and misunderstood smaller creatures that share the desert habitats with us marauding bipeds. Currently Hyder is in his third year of teaching science at Eastwood High School in El Paso, where he instructs the masses in chemistry, biology, anatomy, environmental systems and physiology. Driven south by the opportunity for higher wages, Hyder worked for the Jornada Experimental Range in Las Cruces for several years before turning to public education.

"I've always been interested in critters," Hyder says. "My mom says that I was about seven or eight when I showed a real interest in an aquarium in Boulder, but I don't remember that. When I was 10 or 11, I had a bullfrog in a cage in my room that had glass on the top. Somehow, it got out and ended up sitting on my mom's bed, right on her pillow. She wakes up and sees that there is a bullfrog sitting there looking at her, and wondered aloud, 'I wonder what will happen if I kiss it?'

"There was no particular reason that I became interested in them, but scorpions attracted my attention when I was about six years old."

Before doing what he is doing now, Hyder was a bass player in a band called Strange Behavior. "I know you never heard of us, but we were on the road a lot. I remember in 1980 that the band was falling apart, and the group was returning to Denver. We were on the road near T or C, and something just clicked. Now the Chihuahuan Desert is my passion."

Hyder still enjoys music, and keeps active by composing, writing and recording CDs in a home studio, but he shares them only with friends. Single, he says his other outside interests include photography (all photos accompanying this article are his work). He also does drawings with colored pencils, and of course is an outdoorsman and does a lot of camping and hiking.

But the desert and the critters within it that have bad reputations are still his main interest. He has been a volunteer at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park in Las Cruces since 1990, and does a lot of outreach work. "I also teach a 12-week Master Naturalist program," he says.

Hyder talks happily about discovering a new species of spider recently while working with David Richmond of NMSU in the Chihuahuan Desert. "The family [think back to your biology days—family, genus, species] that this spider belongs to was previously only known in South Africa and Australia," he explains. "We just don't know that much about spiders. I don't know why it is here, but those countries are where the closest examples exist, and that is in an entirely different hemisphere."

A mere three millimeters in size, the little gray creature could not be identified until it was sent to Belgium, where researchers were able to fit it into the Amazena family. "We did not name it, because once a name appears in print, the name sticks with it. So for now, it is the little unknown spider."

Spiders and scorpions and other such desert dwellers aren't really as scary as most people think, according to Hyder. "More people are killed by vending machines or Christmas trees than those who are bitten by black widows," he says. "In fact, more people win the lottery, too! Dogs kill more people in the United States than all venomous bites in the entire country."

He goes on, "A few years ago, a family that sent a spider to a research center, to have it identified, found that it was a western black widow." The western widow is the largest of the 30 varieties of black widow spiders that live throughout the country. The Kansas family of eight had lived in the house for seven years. When researchers descended upon the place, they were able to tally a total of 2,400 black widow spiders, none of which had ever bitten any of the home's inhabitants.

Hyder does say that the widow family of spider is the most dangerous, and—unlike the scorpion or a recluse spider—he would rather not have one crawling on his arm.

Recluse spiders, of which there are three different varieties, tend to be overrated, he says, as are their bites. Hyder has worked with Rick Venners of the University of California-Riverside, who is a recluse-spider specialist, and feels that a bite from one of the three recluse varieties is "not that serious a deal."

There are no documented fatalities from a recluse bite at all in the US, he says. "Less than 10 percent of those bitten even require medical attention and there are a number of skin conditions that can be mistaken for a recluse bite."

Fear of tarantulas is also unfounded, says Hyder. "They are not a big deal. In Dona Ana County, there is probably only one species, the Mexican blonde tarantula. There might be more, but we don't really have a handle on what is out there." This local version has fangs that are about a third of an inch long; since tarantulas are arthropods, like scorpions, their skeletons are on the outside of their bodies.

A tarantula's bite is not venomous, and the old myth that says that tarantulas can jump is completely false. Nor will tarantulas "chase" a human, even though they can run pretty fast.

Bees are a bit of a different story, however. "The Africanized bees are something to be aware of," Hyder says. "Drought and two different mites have slowed the advance of the bees, but getting stung by them will still get you on page one of the newspaper. If you are stung by Italian bees, which are common in this area [also not a native species, called 'white men's flies' by American Indians], you will probably find your story on page seven or eight."

Personally, I have an issue with ants. I don't know why, except that maybe it is because they work a lot harder than I do, and make me look like a couch potato.

Since moving to the desert, I have tried to become more familiar with these industrious little living things. Just a few days before my meeting with Hyder, my wife, wearing open-toed sandals, decided to look to see what was sitting on top of one of our local harvester-ant nests. I had dropped a bait trap on it, and since she refuses to wear her glasses, she paid the price this time. As she stood on the nest, the wily little invertebrates—which did not need glasses—decided that she was not one of them, and proceeded to bite her several times on her exposed toes.

To add insult to injury, the painful bites became swollen, looking like tiny red balloons.

Hyder says, "Harvesters are the most toxic invertebrate in North America."

A cousin of the harvester, the bullet ant, which is found only in South America, thank goodness, gets its name from the pain of its sting. A bite releases pheromones that draws the attention of other ants. If you get 20 or so bites, Hyder advises medical attention. He continues, "It is no surprise that Native Americans allegedly used harvesters in their real estate transactions with Europeans."

To my wife's chagrin, Hyder also reports that there is "not much you can do for the stings." I dryly suggest that she try wearing her glasses.

Scorpions, critters of major interest to Hyder, also have an undeserved bad rep. Locally, we have several different varieties, including the striped tail and striped bark species. The striped tail scorpion is not native to this area.

"I like them because they are cool creatures, and they are not that common," Hyder says. "If you go out and look for them at night around here, you won't find that many. But if you go to the Mojave Desert [California] or the Sonoran [Arizona/Mexico], if you only saw 100, it would be a slow night."

Scorpions are fluorescent, even when dead, and going out on a dark evening with a black light while checking under rocks will almost always yield results.

"The striped tail is the most common. Its sting is not a big deal," says Hyder, who reports having been stung several dozen times. "It is not even as bad as stepping on a goats-head sticker. The bark scorpion probably stings about 1,000 people a year, and there has only been one fatality reported since 1968, and that was from an allergic reaction. It is rare to be allergic to a scorpion sting, because if you have not been stung by one, you cannot be allergic."

The striped bark scorpion is a semi-social guy, and lives two to three years. The hairy scorpion can live up to 10 years.

Scorpions, in spite of the menacing look that most people feel they have, are actually quite beneficial. "They play a huge role in controlling insects," Hyder says.

Vinegaroons, a.k.a. whip scorpions, are another sorely misunderstood species. "They're cool!" Hyder says. Found from California to Florida, the big homely arachnid does not do anything to humans, except benefit them.

"They have the ability to squirt fluid from their abdomens, which of course smells like vinegar to us, hence the name. But it is used to disable their prey, as the compounds in the spray change when discharged, allowing it to seep inside its prey to disable or kill it. They are ambush hunters, and eat most everything, and their danger level to people ranks right up there with kittens."

Another common beast in the desert is a sun scorpion, which is also sometimes referred to as a wind scorpion. You may have seen them running around the floor of your home, as if they were possessed. Again, completely harmless to humans, Hyder says, adding that the creature has two speeds: "full speed and off."

Desert centipedes are also more useful than most people would think, according to Hyder. "The desert centipede is a common arthropod, but most people really freak out. Its legs are poisonous, but a bite from a centipede is no big deal. It is painful, but no one is dying from them. They are hunters and scavengers.

"One time I was teaching a biology lab at NMSU, and I was doing an arthropod lab scheduled for the next day. I discovered at the last minute that I didn't have one on hand, but I didn't feel like running out to look for one. I was getting ready for bed, and threw back the covers, and there one was!" Quite a lucky find in a couple of ways.

The next arthropod that we touch on is the Jerusalem Cricket, or Child of the Earth, as it is known in New Mexico. They are an interesting species, since they are large and look menacing. But again, they are completely harmless. Hyder notes, "They are the shrews of the arachnid world. The species found here is the largest in the world, and they can be aggressive. I once had one grab me by the boot and try to drag me away."

He adds, "The pest-control industry is very good at taking organisms that are insignificant and making them into monsters. They make money by feeding on peoples' fears."

As an example, Hyder cites cockroaches, another familiar desert resident. "Of the 1,200 species that are categorized as roaches, only six are pests. They are not disease vectors and they move into your house because you are providing them with a banquet. The stuff that is sprayed to kill insects, the current thinking is that more damage is done to us than the insects."

If you want to talk real pests, skip the cockroaches and the arthropods Hyder loves. Hyder saves his distaste for the mosquito.

"They carry more disease than any other animal on earth, and they have killed more people than all wars combined," he says. "They are disease vectors, and with the changes in global temperature and climate changes, more diseases are happening here. We need to learn more about mosquitoes and flies, too.

"People need to know more about why science works, and it is good to learn how through science, not why."

But science and research are suffering, Hyder believes, from our current political leaders. "Science is a process, we have to learn, and President Bush has been left behind," he says.

People fail to realize that 95 percent of all species on earth are small enough in size to fit inside a chicken egg, Hyder goes on. One in four species of animals is a beetle, and 75 percent of the estimated 10-100 million organisms on the planet are insects.

"Why does an organism have to have a purpose?" Hyder wonders aloud. "Not everything on earth needs to benefit us. The idea that an organism has to provide us with a 'service' is pretty bizarre. It is like those who view deserts as wastelands, since it's not 'doing' anything."

Take rattlesnakes, for instance, which may benefit humans by gobbling small pests, but also have a bite that "needs to be taken seriously," Hyder says. "The snake can control the amount of venom that it uses, and some defensive bites can have little or no venom. They do that to teach a potential enemy to leave them alone."

There are five species of rattlesnake found locally: the western diamondback, black tail, prairie, rock and desert massaugh (which translates to "big mouth").

"Rattlesnakes can hear, and their eyesight is generally very good, too. A snake has never really attacked me, although a coach whip snake once 'chased' me."

Visions of forked snake tongues are always used to scare people. The glare and the darting tongue can make most anyone's eyebrows raise. Hyder explains, "The forked tongue is used for tracking. If a snake bites a mouse, but the mouse gets away, the tongue is used to flank the trail, to see if the prey has taken off in another direction."

Hyder thinks that there are about a dozen people bitten each summer by rattlesnakes, and says most of those encounters could be prevented by using caution instead of machismo when dealing with a snake.

"Dogs are pretty resistant to snake venom," he adds, "but they should be taken to a vet if they are bitten by a snake."

I had always thought that since I did not want to kill a rattlesnake, because they dine on rodents and such, moving a snake from the backyard to a more isolated spot was a good alternative. Not so, according to Hyder. "Moving them doesn't seem to do much good. Studies show that about 80 percent of snakes fitted with radio transmitters that are moved don't survive. You are taking an animal to a strange area that it doesn't know, and they cover a lot of distance in their own territory.

"They will hang out in a place as long as the food keeps coming, so that it can maintain its weight. They don't eat much, really. If you do come upon one, it is best to just back off and call animal control or rattlesnake rescue." The number for Las Cruces Reptile Rescue is 373-1486.

"If you decapitate them, they can sometimes watch you for 30-45 minutes. And if you skin it, the stump will move to the place where you are pinching it on its body."

Who knew?

"You shouldn't be afraid of them, and you don't have to like them, but you should appreciate them," Hyder concludes.

In spite of his respect for and knowledge of all of these creatures, Hyder also has tried them as a snack food. "I used to take food cooked with insects to school. Everybody eats bugs—have you ever seen the USDA standards set for how many insect parts and such can be in a certain food product? What's the big deal? A grasshopper has twice the protein and half the fat of a steak."

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park sponsored a bug banquet for several years. Hyder assisted in it for two of those years, and provides this as a favorite recipe:

"Take 200-300 meal worms, sift them, clean them and grind them up. Toss them in a skillet with some olive oil and garlic, and saute them. You can serve them as you would a deviled egg; just put them in the spot where the yolk would be.

"They taste like chicken, but what does chicken taste like?"

Frequent contributor Jeff Berg lives in Las Cruces.

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