'camel spider'

[pnshmntMMA]

im hearing alot about these camel spiders im gona be seeing, does anyone have an actual species name for them? what the hell are they? i hear theyre not true spiders. helppppp. thanks in advance

 

[skippy]

also known as wind scorpions and solifugids: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugae

 

[pwilson5]

also annoys me how much untrue stuff is said about them..

"dude no.. my friend has a friend in iraq... hes seen them.. they are like a foot around! they are HUGE!!"
...

 

[SpiderDane]

From what i know, they are not the best inverts to hold. Their life cycle is around a year as far as i know And thats about everything i know about them

I cant confirm that its true or not btw!

EDIT: I saw some of these in a local pet shop here in Denmark a few years ago. Creepy little things. gave me the goos bumps!

 

[pwilson5]

i found one while i was out in Utah on a family vacation... was about an inch around... i was like "SWEET!" played with it *didnt pick it up* for a lil bit then let it wander off

 

[robd]

One particular species that's pretty common in the middle east is the Galeodes granti. All of those videos you see of soldiers messing around with "camel spiders" in Iraq are likely Galeodes granti. I had a pet one there when I was deployed.

I have one right now that I got from Todd Gearhart, but it's going through a hibernation period. It's pretty inactive.

 

[pnshmntMMA]

i hear the bite is mechanically significant

 

[pwilson5]

i hear the bite is mechanically significant

i hear they got their name because they burrow into camel's stomachs when the camels are sleeping...

 

[Tarantula_Hawk]

One particular species that's pretty common in the middle east is the Galeodes granti. All of those videos you see of soldiers messing around with "camel spiders" in Iraq are likely Galeodes granti. I had a pet one there when I was deployed.

Those are definitely not G. granti, since the species is reported only from North-East Africa and not the MiddleEast. However, the middle-east is particularly rich in species, and the order Solifugae is a pretty homogeneous order. Therefore, it is very hard, if not impossible, to I.D. species even up to genus level by just looking at it.

 

[Moltar]

i hear the bite is mechanically significant

Yeah, I believe they can chew you up a bit with those heinous mandibles but they don't have venom glands.

 

[Widowman10]

uh, yeah. out of the 900-ish species, iirc only 1 is "venomous." (don't remember which, seemed like it was a south african species)

 

[Widowman10]

i hear the bite is mechanically significant

i hear they got their name because they burrow into camel's stomachs when the camels are sleeping...

i hear there's a lot of mis-information floating around

 

[xhexdx]

I had one of them years ago. It was about 3" long.

As already said, no venom, and they don't posess any kind of rusting agents, so they're not mechanically significant either.

 

[Widowman10]

did a quick fact-check, and out of the many species, it is suspected that only one, Rhagodes nigrocinctus (of India), has venom / is capable of injecting venom. the study was performed in 1978, where extracts (from what were believed to be epidermal glands) were injected into lizards, 7 (out of 10) displayed paralysis.

this species does appear to possess venom.

 

[pnshmntMMA]

either way theyre freaky. how do they keep in captivity? are they good eaters?

 

[pwilson5]

i hear there's a lot of mis-information floating around

i hear that they can run at over 30 mph!!! lol

 

[pnshmntMMA]

haha and clear buildings in a single bound! they chewed through an Abrams last year and killed the guys inside

 

[pwilson5]

look at that thing!! its as big as the guys leg!! lol

 

[saltyscissors]

Well first off, that's one camel spider hanging onto another, and secondly, it's just the perspective that makes it looks big. If you look to the right of them where the sleeve is, you'll find that they aren't actually that big at all.

 

[pwilson5]

Well first off, that's one camel spider hanging onto another, and secondly, it's just the perspective that makes it looks big. If you look to the right of them where the sleeve is, you'll find that they aren't actually that big at all.

yes i am aware of this... its called internet sarcassm