by Joseph Bennington-Castro
胡德良 译
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As if their venom-injecting tails and crushing pincers
weren't frightening enough, scorpions have long been known to
glowblue-green under ultraviolet (UV) light. But just as the
arachnids' claw size and venom potency vary from species to
species, so does their ability to fluoresce, with some species
lacking the ability altogether, new research shows. Arachnologist
Wilson Louren?o of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris
initially sought to test the fluorescing capabilities of four
recently discovered, cave-dwelling scorpion species (one of which
is shown above, left). To his surprise, his test subjects didn't
prove to be noteworthy, but the species he compared them with—the
soil-loving Chaerilus
telnovi—apparently doesn't glow under UV light (seen above,
right). Further
tests showed that other species from the Chaerilidae family also
don't fluoresce, no matter their
habitat, suggesting their inability to glow isn't an
ecological adaptation, Louren?o reports in the current issue of the
journal Comptes
Rendus Biologies .
Nobody knows for sure why scorpions glow; the new discovery may
help scientists finally illuminate this eerie
phenomenon. |
蝎子那注射毒液的尾巴和强有力的螯腿好像还不够吓人。长久以来人们就知道蝎子在紫外光条件下会发出蓝光，但是一项新研究显示：就像蛛形纲动物的爪子大小和毒液威力随着物种的不同而有所不同，而它们发出荧光的能力也不尽相同，有些物种根本没有发光能力。巴黎国家自然历史博物馆的蛛形学专家威尔逊·鲁昂索起初试图测试四个最新发现的穴居蝎物种的发光能力（上图左边是其中之一）。让他感到吃惊的是，事实上他所测试的蝎种并不值得注意，而显然他用来对比的嗜土豚蝎（Chaerilus
telnovi）在紫外光条件下却不发光（见上图，右边）。鲁昂索在最新一期Comptes Rendus Biologies杂志上报道说：进一步测试证明，豚蝎科的其他物种也不发荧光，不管它们的栖息地在什么地方。没有人确切地了解为什么蝎子会发光，但是这项新研究也许会有助于科学家们最终搞清这一神秘的现象。
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译自：美国《科学》杂志网站（16 January 2013, 1:35
PM）
原著：Joseph
Bennington-Castro![]()
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