Alacran’S STORY
Alacran Environmental Science (Alacran) is an Environmental consulting business focusing on surveys, identification and assessment of Australian invertebrates with conservation significance.
Alacran began in 2008 as a side business (ScorpionID) providing taxonomic identifications of scorpions and pseudoscorpions to the environmental consulting industry. At that time I was working on a post-doctoral fellowship at the Western Australian Museum.
Shortly afterwards I left full time academia and began my career in environmental consulting. During the following seven years, I worked in three different consultancies and continued gaining experience with short-range endemics and subterranean fauna surveys, all the while continuing ScorpionID.
in 2016, after a significant contraction in the Iron Ore sector my employment ended with my employer at the time, but I immediately recieved requests for independent jobs both diagnostics and field surveys. Following the expansion of my services, ScorpionID became Alacran Environmental Science (Alacran).
Erich undertaking a survey at Lake Lefroy in 1998
Dr Erich S. VOLSCHENK
I wear two career ‘hats’: my ‘consulting hat’ is on most of the time but I occasionally still don the ‘academic hat’ when time permits. My academic pursuits are focused on the taxonomy of Australian scorpions and pseudoscorpions, but I also have developing interests in soil centipedes and terrestrial flatworms and their potential conservation significance.
Alacran
Alacran is the Spanish word for scorpion. Alacran is also a genus of Central American scorpions that includes subterranean and surface dwelling species. The name embodies my fascination with scorpions and subterranean fauna.
Alacran tartarus, Image provided by Peter Sprouse Zara Environmental Consultants