Study: Delhi is home to 4 scorpion species

Developing baseline data The study is the first documentation of the scorpion diversity in Delhi

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

NEW DELHI: A five-year study by Delhi University (DU) researchers to establish a baseline for scorpions in the Capital has revealed that the city is the habitat for four species of the arachnids.

The study, conducted from 2018 to 2023 and published by the Zoological Survey of India on March 21, states that Delhi has four scorpion species — the Indian black scorpion (Chersonesometrus fulvipes), the lesser brown scorpion (Isometrus maculatus), the forest thick-tail scorpion (Lychas biharensis), and the Compsobuthus rugosulus, which has no specific common name.

"The research started in 2018, while I was studying the snakes of Delhi as part of my PhD thesis. As I would survey Delhi's Ridge areas and jungles at night-time, I began to discover scorpions too and thus, I began a separate study on the arachnids," said lead researcher Gaurav Barhadiya, an assistant professor at the department of environmental studies at Ramanujan college.