hello again! still greatly enjoying the critter posts. did some research (read: i googled 2 things) and learned that unlike Scorpions, amblypygi don't fluoresce! that lead me to a couple questions for you (hope that's okay!!) first, i keep getting tripped up on the name. do you know why they're called tailless whip scorpions when they appear to be very different from Scorpion scorpions? and secondly, does graciela fluoresce? if so, do you have any photos? if not, do you have any little guys who do? thank you so much for sharing with us! and sorry for asking so many questions ^^;
in short, Amblypygi are called “tailless whip scorpions” because English is a boring, confusing language and nobody bothered to give them a better name.
I got this phylotree from Wikipedia.
presumably, the name “whip scorpion” came first for thelyphonidans/uropygi, also known as vinegaroons. they have a fairly scorpion-like build: a long body with crushing pedipalp claws (although not pincers like scorpions have). they also have a long whiplike flagellum, which probably earned them their name since their antenniform legs aren’t nearly as whiplike.
(Mastigoproctus tohono, a thelyphonid)
vinegaroons are more closely related to Amblypygi than other arachnids, but amblys look quite different beyond lacking a tail. regardless, “tailless whip scorpion” pretty much means “tailless vinegaroon.”
(Damon medius, an amblypygid)
“tailless whip scorpion” is nonsensical if you consider the flagellum of the vinegaroon to be its “whip,” since then you’d be calling an amblypygid a “whipless whip scorpion.” I’ve also heard amblys called “whipspider,” which is a little better than “tailless whip.”
anyway, the moral of the story is: English is a horrible language to do taxonomy in. Spanish, on the other hand, has many wonderful common names for them:
“guabá” and “canclo” are nice single word names but I like “limpia casas” meaning “housecleaner” since they probably help eat a lot of roaches and pests when they live near houses :)
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