#windscorpion

[aydenburd-photography]

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Ramona Grasslands, CA — March 2026

Did you know that scorpions are fluorescent? It's true! We went on a night hike and were using a UV flashlight to hopefully find some cool desert creatures, and we did not find any regular scorpions, but we did run across this very silly little wind scorpion/camel spider instead. Look at those goofy little eyes. What a strange beafst.

[critter-creature-or-beast]

This is a...

critter

creature

beast

Voting ended onApr 6, 2025

By Heinrich Human, CC-BY-NC

[onenicebugperday]

The "aggressive spider" post made me think of my favorite, most specialist, sweetest little bugs of all time, Sunspiders. (Who are not even spiders)

They are very much attracted to shade since they like to borrow under, like plants and stuff, but as a result, are often seen chasing people through the desert, which sounds goofy but ppl really hate it for them.

Ive noticed that solifugae in general are for some reason, incredibly vilified? (There are actually people who believe they kill and eat camels,,, how?) There are like countless misconceptions about these little guys :( but i love them forever and am kissing them in my heart

I deeply love solifuges! Unfortunately my first introduction to them was a chain email when I was in high school circa the early 2000s, maybe 2004 or so, that was some sort of weird pro-war-in-Iraq propaganda about "what our troops are dealing with over there." It included the below photo and a whole bunch of made up "facts" about camel spiders that made them sound absolutely terrifying.

For those who are unfamiliar, this photo uses false perspective and these two lil babes are each only about two inches long. Claims that they're venomous and somehow kill camels or chew their stomachs out are obviously not even close to reality. In fact, solifuges don't have venom at all. They look a little scary and alien if you're unfamiliar with them but they're fairly harmless!

Also they have adorable little faces...

An angel :') Photo by laurenzarate

[sandpaperoctopi]

little guy I saw at the park

[bone-free-as-the-wind]

Found out somebody made these felt windscorpions on Etsy but I’m 4 years too late. 😞

[gh0stforest]

Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136664681

[hallow138]

Those are some huge pedipalps #sunspider #windscorpion #solifuges #camelspider #devilspawn #insect #nature #howmanylegs #entomology #pedipalps #beadyeyes (at Reno, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFJEZVIh6Hl/?igshid=1s58kzzcx52f3

[galaxies-of-apple-trees]

A lil #solifugid joined our campfire! Despite myths that sun spiders/camel spiders/wind scorpions are dangerous, they're actually completely harmless, not having venom or even particularly strong jaws.They're very fast, able to move up to 10 miles per hour! #windscorpion #sunspider #camelspider #desertlife #entomology (at Lone Pine, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwAV1eGh4-C/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=q8ry6xckvx69