Common names:
No common name, other than "escorpión" or "alacrán". The epithet fuscus may denote the dark coloration of the species.

Distribution:
Mountains of central Argentina: Sierras de Córdoba, San Luis, Sierras de los Llanos in Province of La Rioja, Sierras de Sumampa and Ambargasta in southern Province of Santiago del Estero. Scattered records from Province of Tucumán need confirmation.

Habitat:
This scorpion is markedly orophylous. Specimens live under stones, or in deep crevices of large, half buried blocks or outcrops.

Venom:
No medical importance.

Selected litterature:
Abalos, J.W. 1953. El género Zabius Thorell, 1894 (Buthidae, Scorpiones). Anales del Instituto de Medicina Regional, 3(3):349-356.
Peretti, A.V. (1991). Comportamiento de apareamiento de Zabius fuscus (Thorell) (Buthidae, Scorpiones). Bol. Soc. Biol. Concepción, 62:123-146.

On the Internet:
Homepage of Dr. Luis E. Acosta

General:
Size up to about 6 cm. The genus contains another species, Z. birabeni, which is seemingly non-orophylous, and can be easily distinguished from Z. fuscus by its coloration (yellowish), size (much smaller) and a pair of letaroventral apophyses on metasomal segment V. The courtship of this species was studied by Peretti (1991).

This species file is written by Dr. Luis E. Acosta.
Zabius fuscus photo by Dr. Luis E. Acosta (C)