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Photo#1008852
Striped Bark Scorpion - Centruroides vittatus - female

Striped Bark Scorpion - Centruroides vittatus - Female
HWY 290, county line, Washington County, Texas, USA
April 12, 2014
Size: ~1.5in
I haven't seen any bugguide records for this area of Texas, so here.
I don't have much experience in the art of scorpion hunting, so I just rely on pure luck pretty much all the time to bump into one.
For the northwestern Houstonian scorpion hunter:
It seems like the historical records of C. vittatus in Houston are no longer relevant, as they seem extinct in and around the city, up to about Prairie View when traveling northwest.
When driving west, a sure sign of scorpions in the area are the Atta texana nests. Wherever there are leaf cutter ants on 290, there are probably scorpions if you look hard enough.
This scorpion was found just west of Houston, right on the Washington county line. If you drive west on 290, you'll come to a brick sign welcoming you to the county- you can't miss it.
This one was found about 40 feet west of the sign right under a log/stick about 2 feet long, right next to the families taking pretty pictures and sitting in the bluebonnets.
Unfortunately, I killed this one unintentionally when I tried to pry it out of the cracks in the log. It shall not happen again.