'''తేలు''' లేదా '''వృశ్చికము''' (Scorpion) [[అరాక్నిడా]] (Arachnida) తరగతిలో స్కార్పియానిడా (Scorpionida) వర్గానికి చెందిన [[జంతువు]]. వీనిలో సుమారు 2,000 జాతులున్నాయి. ఇవి దక్షిణ భూభాగంలో విస్తరించాయి. ఉత్తర భాగంలో ఇవి ఒక చిన్న సమూహం 1860 నుండి యు.కె.లో కనిపిస్తున్నాయి.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Benton |first=T. G. |year=1991 |title=The Life History of ''Euscorpius Flavicaudis'' (Scorpiones, Chactidae) |journal=The Journal of Arachnology |volume=19 |pages=105–110 |url=http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v19_n2%20/JoA_v19_p105.pdf |accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/e_flavicaudis.htm |title=''Euscorpius flavicaudis'' |accessdate=2008-06-13 |last=Rein |first=Jan Ove |date=2000 |work=The Scorpion Files |publisher=[[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]]}}</ref>
'''తేలు''' లేదా '''వృశ్చికము''' (Scorpion) [[అరాక్నిడా]] వర్గానికి చెందిన [[జంతువు]].
''' Scorpions''' are any arachnid of the order Scorpionida. They are members of the order '''Scorpiones''' within the class [[Arachnida]]. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about [[Latitude|49° N]], except [[New Zealand]] and [[Antarctica]]. The northernmost part of the world where scorpions live in the wild is [[Sheerness]] on the [[Isle of Sheppey]] in the [[UK]], where a small colony of ''Euscorpius flavicaudis'' has been resident since the 1860s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Benton |first=T. G. |year=1991 |title=The Life History of ''Euscorpius Flavicaudis'' (Scorpiones, Chactidae) |journal=The Journal of Arachnology |volume=19 |pages=105–110 |url=http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v19_n2%20/JoA_v19_p105.pdf |accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/e_flavicaudis.htm |title=''Euscorpius flavicaudis'' |accessdate=2008-06-13 |last=Rein |first=Jan Ove |date=2000 |work=The Scorpion Files |publisher=[[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]]}}</ref> The word ''scorpion'' derives from [[Greek language|Greek]] ''σκορπιός'' - ''skorpios''<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2395171 Skorpios], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', at Perseus</ref>.
