Whipspider (Tailless Whipscorpion)
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:32 am
Readers who hate creepy crawlies please ignore this thread.
The picture below is of a Whipspider, a.k.a. 'Tailless Whipscorpion' (pseudo in the Order of Amblypygi, Class - Arachnida and Phylum of Arthropodia). Which, if I read this correctly, means that it is a member of the spider family, but not really an actual spider.
This mean looking monster was at least 7 inches (17cm) across the legs and 10 inches (25cm) across the antennae. It ran across the foot of a lady while she was taking a shower. Undaunted, she grabbed a large box, cornered the beast and managed to trap it before coming next door to ask if I knew what it was. She got dressed first, of course.
If that had been me in the shower, I'd have bricked it. They obviously build them tough in Canada - full kudos, Jean. Anyway, with half a dozen people gathered around watching, I was expected to lift the lid and identify the damn thing. Talk about putting a guy in a corner.
Well, I admit that I'd never seen anything like it. In fact I spent the next few weeks showing people on Tobago the photo and nobody had seen one before. On my return last week, I sent a photo to Speyside-based William Trim - one of the island's leading nature experts. Sure enough he knew what it was. Thanks William.
I forgot to say. These things may look pretty monstrous, but they are totally harmless. They don't even have any venom glands. They are also pretty rare, so like me, you might visit Tobago for nearly 50 years and never see one again.
The picture below is of a Whipspider, a.k.a. 'Tailless Whipscorpion' (pseudo in the Order of Amblypygi, Class - Arachnida and Phylum of Arthropodia). Which, if I read this correctly, means that it is a member of the spider family, but not really an actual spider.
This mean looking monster was at least 7 inches (17cm) across the legs and 10 inches (25cm) across the antennae. It ran across the foot of a lady while she was taking a shower. Undaunted, she grabbed a large box, cornered the beast and managed to trap it before coming next door to ask if I knew what it was. She got dressed first, of course.
If that had been me in the shower, I'd have bricked it. They obviously build them tough in Canada - full kudos, Jean. Anyway, with half a dozen people gathered around watching, I was expected to lift the lid and identify the damn thing. Talk about putting a guy in a corner.
Well, I admit that I'd never seen anything like it. In fact I spent the next few weeks showing people on Tobago the photo and nobody had seen one before. On my return last week, I sent a photo to Speyside-based William Trim - one of the island's leading nature experts. Sure enough he knew what it was. Thanks William.
I forgot to say. These things may look pretty monstrous, but they are totally harmless. They don't even have any venom glands. They are also pretty rare, so like me, you might visit Tobago for nearly 50 years and never see one again.