REVIEW article
Front. Arachn. Sci.
Sec. Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
Sexual stings in scorpions - knock-out drug or love potion?
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- 2Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium
- 3Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
- 4Fraunhofer-Institut fur Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Oekologie IME Institutsteil Bioressourcen, Giessen, Germany
- 5University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia
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Conspecific male to female envenomation, though rare, has been documented across venomous taxa. While traditionally interpreted as a coercive mating strategy to enhance male reproductive success and to avoid cannibalism, this explanation may not fully account for the behaviour in scorpions, which exhibit minor sexual size dimorphism and complex courtship rituals. This review explores the possibly multifaceted roles of sexual stinging in scorpions. We highlight potential adaptive strategies, such as venom metering and compositional plasticity, that allow males to subdue females without causing lethal harm. We discuss hypotheses on the evolution of sexual stings, ranging from sexual coercion to chemical seduction and cooperative signalling. Finally, we propose future research directions, including comparative venomics, behavioural assays, and ecological studies, to shed light on the selective pressures that shape this enigmatic behaviour. By integrating insights from physiology, ecology, and evolution, this review advances our understanding of sexual envenomation as a dynamic interplay between conflict and cooperation in scorpion reproductive strategies.
Keywords: Reproduction, sexual conflict, venom evolution, courtship behavior, scorpion biology
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 29 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Reitsema-Wang, Simone, Jenner, Lüddecke, Herzig and Krämer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuqi Reitsema-Wang
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