This first question sent me dlying toward my self of Wilderness EMS Books. And in the end, the question is worded in a way that makes it hard to answer. Most powerfull neurotoxin vs. Most venomous. If you are sure the question is in reference to neurotoxin then where are we talking about? A North American EMS Text Book may be dramaticly differnt in this regard than a Ausie EMS Text Book. For instance, while off the top of my head I would have answered Coral Snake, according to what I just read on some of wilderness EMS handouts: The most power neurotoxins are as follows:
1. The poison Dart Frog (south america). You touch the frog and touoch your lips you are dead in 3 paces.
2. Inland Taipan (Australian Snake). A typical strike contains enough neurotoxins to kill 100 people.
3. Sydney Funnel Web Spider (Australia again). It's agressive and can kill you in 15 minutes.
4. Stonefish (Australia again - glad I don't work there). Stops all fish that it stings... dead in tehir tracks. Causes thock and death in humans.
5. Dead Stalker Scorpion (North Africa and Middle East). Causes an intense and unbearable pain, then fever, followed by coma, convulsions, paralysis and death.
None of these are in North America, but the question you gave didn't specify what type of pit viper or scorpion. If #2 is not a pit viper, I would answer your question as scorpion sicnce teh quetion never specifies if this question is North America specific. However, based on my experience in North America, pit viper hits rarely do anything. I don't have coral snakes in my region, so don;t know. Black Widows are nasty but not usually fatal. Scorpion in my area are pretty tame adn not a big concern... however, according to one of teh NOLS Wilderness EMS Book I have: "Only one type of North American scorpion, a small yellowish species of teh genus Centruroides, is dangerous. It lives in Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and maybe Utah." Even then, fatalities are usually only in teh old and youn, like most poisonous creatures in North America. Like I said, the question is tooo generic to be truthfully answered. Anyone who gets it wrong has cause to challenge it, as is the case with many multiple choice questions.
