hello! can i have some facts on whip spiders (amblypygi)? i just think they are neat and want to gently hold one so bad.
"Tailless Whip Scorpions" or "Whip Spiders"
An order of arachnids found in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Neither spiders, nor scorpions, these arachnids are in their own order.
These animals are non-venomous, and use spined pedipalps to capture and impale prey. They then tear up prey with their chelicerae (mouth parts).
They do not produce silk.
Their exoskeletons are coated with a "super-hydrophobic" substance (repelling water).
Whip spiders use 6 of their legs for walking, and use 2 elongated highly sensitive legs like antennae (antennaform legs)... the "whips".
They have 8 small eyes, but have fairly weak vision.
Stay tuned, I'm going to share photos of some of the whip spiders I found in Peru very soon!
Whip Spider or Tailless Whip Scorpion (genus Heterophrynus), family Phrynidaeo, Amazon basin of eastern Ecuador
photograph by Graham Wise | Wikimedia
Australian Tailless Whip Scorpion (Charinus pescotti), family Charinidae, order Amblypygi, North QLD, Australia
Damon diadema, family Phrynichidae, found in Central Africa, Kenya and Tanzania
Meet the Arachnid That May Add a New Chapter to the Book on Sensory Biology
Whip spiders sense the world in weird and wonderful ways.
Whip spiders, also known as tailless whip scorpions, are actually neither spiders nor scorpions. These strange creatures belong to a separate arachnid order called Amblypygi, meaning “blunt rump,” a reference to their lack of tails.
Researchers have discovered that some of the more than 150 species engage in curious behaviors, including homing, territorial defense, cannibalism, and tender social interactions—all mediated by a pair of unusual sensory organs.
Like all arachnids, whip spiders have eight legs. However, they walk on only six. The front two legs are elongated, antennae-like sensory structures called antenniform legs. These legs, three to four times longer than the walking legs, are covered with different types of sensory hairs. They constantly sweep the environment in a whiplike motion, earning whip spiders their common name. Whip spiders use their antenniform legs the way a blind person uses a cane—except that in addition to feeling their environment, whip spiders can smell, taste, and hear with their antenniform legs.
All aspects of a whip spider’s life center on the use of these legs, including hunting—whip spiders are dangerous predators, if you’re a small invertebrate that shares the arachnids’ tropical and subtropical ecosystems...
photographs: Rich Bradley - Ohio State University; Eileen Hebets - University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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