The Critters of Tucson: Tailless Whipscorpion

7/10/12 caught on the kitchen floor

This is the Tailless Whipscorpion. We found one on the kitchen floor two days ago but we see them frequently around the property. In my opinion it's one of the scariest looking spiders out there. These spiders are not poisonous so we try not to hurt them. The more bugs they can eat the better.

From the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute

Amblypygids, which include tail-less whip scorpions and whip spiders, are non-venomous, non-silk-spinning arachnids. Taxonomically they belong (along with true whip scorpions) between scorpions and spiders, having a closer affinity to the latter. They differ from the more elongate uropygids in having a rounded anterior and an elongated oval abdomen lacking a tqil and poison glands, and in having the cephalothorax joined to the abdomen by a slender pedicel.

Amblypygids are common nocturnal predators of insects, including: cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, butterflies and wood lice, and also arachnids, and are harmless to people. They can be found in dark moist sites among rocks, under wood debris and logs, as well as in human dwellings.