

Black Widow Spider
Daddy Long Legs

Camel Spiders are also called wind scorpions and sun spiders. Most live in tropical or semitropical regions where they inhabit warm and arid habitats, but some species have been known to live in grassland or forest habitats. The most distinctive feature of Solifugae is their large mouth pinscers.



They are the subject of many myths and exaggerations about their size, speed, behaviour, appetite, and lethality. They are not especially large, the biggest having a legspan of perhaps 5 inches, and although they are fast on land compared to other invertebrates (the fastest can run perhaps 10 miles per hour), members of this order of Arachnidae apparently have no venom and do not spin webs.

In the Middle East, it is common belief among American soldiers stationed there that camel spiders will feed on living human flesh. The story goes that the creature will inject some anaesthetizing venom into the exposed skin of its sleeping victim, then feed voraciously, leaving the victim to awaken with a gaping wound. Camel spiders, however, do not produce such an anaesthetic, and, like most creatures with any sort of survival instinct, they do not attack prey larger than themselves unless threatened.

Due to their bizarre appearance and the fact that they produce a hissing sound when they feel threatened, many people are startled or even afraid of them. However, the greatest threat they pose to humans is their bite in self-defense when one tries to handle them. There is no chance of death directly caused by the bite, but, due to the strong muscles of their chelicerae, they can produce a proportionately large, ragged wound which is prone to infection.

Reproduction can involve direct or indirect sperm transfer; when indirect, the male emits a spermatophore on the ground and then inserts it in the female's genital pore.



 Kingdom: Animalia

 Phylum: Arthropoda

 Class: Arachnida

 Order: Solifugae