DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCORPION, VAEJOVIS-CAROLINIANUS (BEAUVOIS) - A REEVALUATION, (ARACHNIDA, SCORPIONIDA, VAEJOVIDAE)

Vaejovis carolinianus (Beauvois) is primarily an upland scorpion rangi ng from the Ohio River in central Kentucky to the inner Coastal Plain of Alabama and, east/west, from the Fall Zone of South Carolina and Ge orgia to eastern Mississippi and westcentral Tennessee. A disjunct pop ulation inhabits the Tunica Hills, along the eastern side of the Missi ssippi River in southwestern Mississippi and adjacent Louisiana. It is abundant in the Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabam a, but occurs only in the western tip of Virginia. The distribution sk irts the western and southern peripheries of the Blue Ridge Province, including only certain border counties of North Carolina, primarily th ose adjoining Georgia and western South Carolina. The northward extens ion west of the Appalachians is much greater than that to the east, an d sporadic records from the interior of North Carolina and southern bo rder counties east of the Appalachians apparently constitute accidenta l human importations. Specific localities are detailed and plotted on a distribution map.