Story perspectives

Study Finds Scorpion Stingers Embedded With Zinc, Manganese

4/29/2026

Summary

Story summary

U.S. researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History published a study in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface showing that scorpion weapons contain metal.
The team examined 18 scorpion species using electron microscopy and X-ray analysis.
Zinc concentrated at stinger tips while a manganese layer lay beneath.
Pincer edges held zinc or zinc-iron mix, absent elsewhere.
Stinger tip zinc inversely correlated with claw zinc, indicating a trade-off.

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Story summary

U.S. researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History published a study in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface showing that scorpion weapons contain metal.
The team examined 18 scorpion species using electron microscopy and X-ray analysis.
Zinc concentrated at stinger tips while a manganese layer lay beneath.
Pincer edges held zinc or zinc-iron mix, absent elsewhere.
Stinger tip zinc inversely correlated with claw zinc, indicating a trade-off.