Californian Teens Discover Two New Scorpion Species and Are Not Planning to Stop There

Two scorpion species that have crawled under the radar are now described thanks to two enthusiastic teenagers.

A female Paruroctonus soda carrying numerous offspring on her back. Image credit: Prakrit Jain / California Academy of Sciences
Harper Forbes and Prakrit Jain, two teenagers from California, were browsing the collaborative science platform iNaturalist – where users upload observations of flora, fauna, and fungi, and collaborate to identify them – when they came across a peculiar entry. A citizen scientist had discovered an enigmatic scorpion near a lake in the Mojave Desert, which had remained unidentified on the platform for six years.

Despite having studied various scorpions extensively, the pair were unable to determine the species of the scorpion. Eventually, they realized that it was an unidentified species. Later on, they stumbled upon another unknown scorpion on iNaturalist, which they quickly realized had never been identified before.

“We immediately knew that they were something new,” Jain told CBC Radio’s “As It Happens.”

Harper, 19, and Prakrit, 18, often scroll through the platform and met while working at a nature preserve. Both aspiring young scientists are deeply passionate about ecology and are determined to document every arachnid species found in California.