So last night we took Bella to the dog park which we do every other day. And I'm just sitting there with McKay watching Michael play with Bella when I see this thing go running across the yard. I go running to look at it, "It’s a scorpion, hurry come look!!" Michael comes over, I'm trying to get a better look because I really didn't think it was a scorpion, but I had to say it was something cool to get Michael's attention. Bella tried to catch it. Michael counted its legs, 10 legs? Spiders don't have 10 legs. So we came to the conclusion it was either a spider, and one set of legs were not legs or it was a scorpion. Well in my Internet findings it was neither. It's a solpugid. Whatever that is.. It's called a Camel Spider.
(Side note: Where I even got the idea to look up Camel spider was, there was the guy looking at like we were crazies. I told him to come look at the thing. He didn't know what it was, but he was from California and said it looked like the spiders in California that were called camel Spiders.)
P.S. Sorry if you get itchy after reading this post, I was freaking out the whole time writing. I hate spiders. Or whatever it is, creatures with long legs that bite.
Here is some info I find on the nasty thing!! Do I need to cite my info? Well I didn't write this stuff.
Camel spiders top speed - 10 mph. Which is very fast for a such a small creature..
Size: Up to 8 inches, although many of our readers report larger.
Called camel spiders because they live in the desert.
Camel Spiders are solpugids.. Along with spiders, they are members of the class Arachnida. For more
camel spider pictures..Solifugae -
Camel SpiderA Solifugid (plural form Solifugae) is an arachnid belonging to the order Solifugae. The name Solifugae comes from Latin and means "flee from the sun", a reference to their nocturnal nature. The order is also known by the names Solpugida, Solifugae, Solpugides, Solpugae, Galeodea, and Mycetophorae. The order includes 900 known species of wind scorpions, sun spiders and camel spiders.Most solifuges live in tropical or semitropical regions, where they inhabit warm and arid habitats. Some species however also live in grassland or forest habitats. The most distinctive features of solifuges is their large chelicerae. Each of the two chelicerae are composed of two articles forming a powerful pincer; each article bears a variable number of teeth. Males in all families but Eremobatidae possess a flagellum on the basal article of the chelicera. Solifuges also have long pedipalps, which function as sense organs similar to the insects antennae. Pedipalps terminate in eversible adhesive organs.Solifuges are carnivorous or omnivorous, with most species feeding on termites, darkling beetles and other small arthropods. Prey is located with the pedipalps and killed and cut into pieces by the chelicerae. The prey is then liquified and the liquid ingested through the pharynx. Reproduction can involve direct or indirect sperm transfer; when indirect, the male emits a spermatophore on the ground and then inserts it with his chelicerae in the female's genital pore.
