Scorpions are relatively rare in amber, that said many are overlooked by collectors depending on their preservation state. Many decayed scorpions which do not appear visible at first may suddenly appear when the amber is viewed at the correct angle with the correct lighting. Of course regular white light and warm lights are used when viewing but sometimes we see that UV light is very good at making the fine details of a scorpion pop out. Scorpions in Hukawng amber vary in length from a few millimeters and up to at least 10cm meaning that it is an invertebrate occuring in unusally large sizes in Burmite (others that appear in large sizes in this amber includes Camel spiders, Tarantulas, snails, centipedes, dragonflies and snakes flies.) Most scorpions seen are a yellowish brown color when well preserved to of course colorless with poor preservation. Black and albino scorpions exist, sometimes a giant mother scorpion with hundreds of babies appears in the amber. Some of them even exhibit a pink glow under UV lighting but most have a blue or blueish green glow. Many scorpions can also be found in interactions with other creatures in the amber giving us an even clearer picture of how the dinosaur inhabited jungles must have looked.
Our scorpion references are based on the amazing work of Dr Xing Lida and Andrew J. Ross who has prepared a newer updated list and kindly offers it for free download
Amber lovers and Paleos can dig up the latest updated version here:
https://www.nms.ac.uk/media/1154465/burmese-amber-taxa-v2017_2.pdf
Lourenço, W.R. 2015a. A new subfamily, genus and species of fossil Scorpiones from Cretaceous Burmese amber (Scorpiones: Palaeoeuscorpiidae). In Wunderlich, J. (ed.) Mesozoic Spiders (Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie, 9, 457-464.
Lourenço, W.R. 2015b. Clarification of the familiar status of the genus Palaeoburmesebuthus Lourenço, 2002 from Cretaceous Burmese amber (Scorpiones: Archaeobuthidae: Palaeoburmesebuthinae). In Wunderlich, J. (ed.) Mesozoic Spiders (Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie, 9, 465-475.
Lourenço, W.R. 2015c. New contribution to the knowledge of Cretaceous Burmese amber scorpions: descriptions of two new species of BetaburmesebuthusLourenço, 2015 (Scorpiones: Archaeobuthidae: Palaeoburmesebuthinae). Arachnida, Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 3, 27–36.
Lourenço, W.R. 2015d. An unusual new species of Chaerilobuthus Lourenço & Beigel, 2011 (Scorpiones: Chaerilobuthidae) from the Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (Burma). Arachnida, Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 5, 44–48.
Lourenço, W.R. 2016a. A new genus and three new species of scorpions from Cretaceous
Burmese amber (Scorpiones: Chaerilobuthidae: Palaeoeuscorpiidae. Arthropoda Selecta, 25(1), 67-74.
Lourenço, W.R. 2016b. A preliminary synopsis on amber scorpions with special reference to Burmite species: an extraordinary development of our knowledge in only 20 years. ZooKeys, 600, 75-87.
Lourenço, W.R. & Beigel, A. 2011. A new scorpion fossil from the Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (Burma). New phylogenetic implications. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 10, 635-639.
Lourenço, W.R. & Beigel, A. 2015. A new genus and species of Palaeoburmesebuthinae Lourenço, 2014 (Scorpiones: Archaeobuthidae) from Cretaceous amber of Myanmar. In Wunderlich, J. (ed.) Mesozoic Spiders (Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie, 9, 465-475.
Lourenço, W.R. & Velten J. 2015. Another new species of Chaerilobuthus Lourenço & Beigel, 2011 (Scorpiones: Chaerilobuthidae) from the Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (Burma). Arachnida, Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 5, 2–8.
Lourenço W.R. & Velten, J. 2016a. One more new species of Betaburmesebuthus Lourenço, 2015
(Scorpiones: Palaeoburmesebuthinae) from Cretaceous burmite. Arachnida, Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 6, 4–11.
Lourenço W.R. & Velten, J. 2016b A new genus and species of fossil scorpion from Burmese Cretaceous amber (Scorpiones: Buthoidea: Buthidae. Arachnida, Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 10, 2-9.
Lourenço W.R. & Velten, J. 2016c A sixth new species of Cretaceous Burmese amber scorpion of the genus Betaburmesebuthus Lourenço, 2015 (Scorpiones: Palaeoburmesebuthidae. Arachnida, Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 10, 10-17.
