Bug FAQCalifornia common scorpion
Paruroctonus silvestrii · Order: Scorpiones · Family: Vaejovidae
The California common scorpion is usually under 45 mm (about 1.8 in) long. It has slender pinchers and a mottled dark gray-brown color with four brown lines on the underside of its tail. It lives in dry habitats along the California coast, where it builds and lives in burrows.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It has skinny pinchers and a mottled dark gray-brown body. Four longitudinal brown lines run along the ventral side of its tail.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Most individuals are a little under 45 mm (1.8 in) long.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It is found in dry areas and creates burrows to live in.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Vaejovidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paruroctonus_silvestrii
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.