Friend or foe: behavioral responses to conspecifics in the northern scorpion, Paruroctonus boreus (Scorpionida: Vaejovidae)

We investigated the behavioral response of male Paruroctonus boreus to male and female pheromones of conspecifics. Adult male scorpions actively search for females during the mating season, but lack visual cues to direct their movement. Chemical cues (pheromones) are thought to be responsible for directing movement. In a series of laboratory experiments, in Y-mazes, males were exposed to areas that had contained males and females from the same population and areas that had contained conspecifics from different populations. Males spent significantly more time in areas that had contained females from the same population but did not show a preference for areas exposed to females from different populations. Males also significantly avoided areas exposed to males from the same population. Our results suggest that P. boreus has a sex-specific response to pheromones and that this response may be population-specific.