Ecomorphotypes Ecomorphotypes Scorpion ecologists sometimes like to characterize scorpions as to their general habitat and requisite morphological modifications. However, I think that only two primary ecomorphotypes need to be recognized. Polis' other two ecomorphotypes are easily interpreted as special cases of these two primary types. Fossorial scorpions spend almost their entire existence in a burrow of their own construction.
Females are generally completely sedentary.
Only the males leave their home burrow to search for mates. These males must find their way back to their burrow, use another scorpion's burrow, or construct a new burrow every night. They will often dig shallow burrows under any available shelter, e.g., rocks, logs, sleeping tourists, and the like. It is very difficult to characterize these scorpions as to morpholoical adaptations because there are so many different types from different taxonomic families. However, I find that these are over-generalizations that owe as much to phylogenetic affinity as they to to digging behavior.