As I write this column, we are two weeks out from Halloween and the neighbors have already decorated their yards with Halloween paraphernalia — skeletons, ghosts, monsters and yes, huge spiders and other assorted creepy crawlies.
These decorations will usually (but not always) come down after Halloween but did you know that in the Missouri Ozarks, we have some real-life creepy crawlies that don’t get packed away until next October?
I am talking about the Texas brown tarantula (technically known as the Aphonopelma hentzi), and the striped bark scorpion (technically known as the Centruroides vitiates), two venomous creatures that have existed in the Ozarks for centuries.
The natural range for each of these creatures includes most of the Missouri Ozarks, with the northern boundary for each being the Missouri River.
