Scorpions are eight-legged carnivorous arthropods. A member of the Arachnida class and belonging to the order Scorpiones, there are about 2000 species of scorpions. They are found widely distributed south of 49° N, except New Zealand and Antarctica. The northern-most 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.