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Contact Info

P.O. Box 32027
572 Rivers Street
Boone, NC
28608-2027
(828) 262-3025
FAX: (828) 262-2127

Chairperson:
Dr. Steven Seagle
seaglesw@appstate.edu

Scorpion Systematics and Ecology

Richard N. Henson
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Texas A&M University

COURSES AND MORE RESEARCH INFORMATION

The research in my laboratory focuses on several aspects of scorpion biology ranging from scorpion abundance, to community structure, systematics and evolutionary history in the Trans-Pecos area of Texas. This geographical area is particularly unique for several reasons. Diversity in the Big Bend area of Texas consists of 15 of the 19 known Texas species of scorpions. Several of these species are quite common and several are quite rare with no one species being dominant over a large area, even though a localized habitat may have one dominant form. This situation allows us to look closely at the factors responsible for scorpion activity on the surface at any particular time. Scorpions are obviously a good model for this type of study since only 10% of scorpions may be active at any particular time.

Scorpion systematics and evolutionary history are poorly known even though the group has remained relatively unchanged for the past 450 million years. My lab is looking at both morphological and molecular characteristics to better understand relationships between populations and major groupings of these unique organisms.