The sourest species, its butt can spray vinegar!

As the most prominent members of the Arachnida, spiders and scorpions are often treated as animals similar to insects or crabs and lobsters. Although they are all arthropods, the Arachnida are actually quite distantly related to them. In addition to spiders and scorpions, the Arachnida also has many less popular small groups. Today, this strange-looking little animal that can spray acetic acid is one of them.

The small group of Arachnida often looks like a "hybrid monster" - with the characteristics of both spiders and scorpions, as if the creator has turned the design of Arachnida into a face-pinching game. Among them are the Heliothis, which looks like a scorpion with an enhanced mouth, the Ixodida, which looks like a hybrid of spiders and ticks, and the Whip Scorpion, which looks like a terrestrial version of a sea scorpion - our protagonist today. However, the Whip Scorpion is famous not only for its appearance, but also for its defensive habit of spraying acetic acid from its buttocks, so it is also called "Vinegar-Spraying Whip Scorpion", "Vinegar-Flavored Scorpion", and "Vinegar Bull".

Gentle monster

Whip scorpions belong to the order Maligula of the class Arachnida. The "whip" in Maligula refers to the whip at the end of the abdomen - whip scorpions have a long whip like a tail. Whip scorpions also have a pair of specialized, whip-like, flexible legs that are used to sense the surrounding environment.

Compared with whip scorpions, whip spiders of the order Notodon give people a feeling of being horizontally long and more like crabs | Chongye

The giant whip scorpion (Mastigoproctus giganteus) is a representative species of whip scorpion, mainly living in the dry areas of the southern United States and Mexico. As you can see from the word "giant", they are not small, and can grow up to 6 cm. But this does not mean that they are much larger than other whip scorpions - in general, whip scorpions are a group of considerable size. The giant whip scorpion was once thought to be the only whip scorpion species in the United States. Recent studies have shown that the giant whip scorpion, which was once thought to be a single species, actually contains at least seven independent species.

This is a giant whip scorpion. Its "tail" is not very obvious because it is tilted up. | Chongye

The giant whip scorpion can be divided into two parts: the cephalothorax and the abdomen, which is similar to spiders and scorpions; there is a pair of thick chelicerae at the front of the cephalothorax, which is also their only weapon. Their first pair of legs are specialized into whip-like receptors, and the following three pairs of legs are used for walking. There are several small simple eyes on the back of the cephalothorax, which are very inconspicuous, indicating that the whip scorpion has very poor eyesight. Whip scorpions are nocturnal and spend most of their time hiding in underground caves, only coming out at night to look for prey and mates. When they walk, their two whip-like legs will wave flexibly to explore the surrounding environment, which is equivalent to the antennae of insects.

Unlike their ferocious appearance, the giant whip scorpion is completely harmless to humans and can be described as a very gentle little monster. The pair of chelicerae in front of their heads may seem scary, but they can only deal with small insects as prey or be used as powerful digging tools; and their main means of defense - spraying acetic acid from their tails - is just unpleasant and has no offensive power against humans.

Ancient appearance, advanced behavior

Arachnids generally have a "primitive" temperament. After all, their closest relatives are horseshoe crabs and sea scorpions, which are ancient giants in the history of evolution. However, their behavior is very "advanced". Caring for offspring is very common in arachnids, and some species even have certain family and social structures.

A female giant whip scorpion incubating her eggs. | Matt Reinbold/ Wikimedia Commons

Like many spiders and scorpions, whip scorpions take very good care of their offspring; pregnant females give birth in a safe cave, then place the eggs on their abdomens and carefully care for them until they hatch. The newly hatched whip scorpions do not yet have a clear structure, and they use a suction cup-like structure to attach themselves to their mother's back. After the first molt, the whip scorpions look very similar to their mothers, but their chelicerae are still bright red, and their "tails" are more slender than their bodies. Compared with the dark and sturdy adults, they appear slender and tender, and quite cute. At this time, they will get off their mother's back, leave the cave where they were born, and start their own adventure.

Unborn giant whip scorpion babies | Acrocynus / Wikimedia Commons

However, unlike the solitary whip scorpions, whip spiders are somewhat gregarious and social, which may also allow them to have more complex behaviors. Whip spiders also have similar parenting behaviors as whip scorpions, and can even distinguish their mothers from their siblings and stranger whip spiders passing by.

Entering human life

The giant whip scorpion has a conspicuous body, a cool appearance, and the way its whips dance when it moves and hunts is very interesting. Moreover, it is gentle, harmless to humans and animals, and easy to raise - therefore, it is often kept as a pet. Although not as popular as tarantulas, giant whip scorpions always appear at every reptile show I have been to in the United States.

Feeding insects to giant whip scorpions | Clinton & Charles Robertson / Wikimedia Commons

But giant whip scorpions are not perfect pets. The first problem is that giant whip scorpions grow slowly and have a long breeding cycle. It is more convenient and cheaper to capture wild individuals than to breed them artificially. Therefore, almost all giant whip scorpions on the market are caught in the wild. Fortunately, giant whip scorpions are arthropods after all. As long as there is sufficient habitat, the population has strong resilience, and the market demand is relatively small.

Secondly, for the pet owner who likes to observe and interact with them, giant whip scorpions are a very boring pet. Giant whip scorpions like to live in caves. Under natural conditions, they can dig complex and interconnected tunnels, almost similar to the tunnels dug by small mammals. Such behavior is certainly interesting, but it is difficult to observe. In captivity, they usually hide in shelters or buried in the soil, sometimes not showing up for months, especially when females are laying eggs.

Hands-on contact | Acrocynus / Wikimedia Commons

In the United States, giant whip scorpions are very popular in educational and scientific institutions such as schools, museums, and zoos because they are easy to obtain and keep, and even children can safely handle them. At the same time, they have an interesting appearance and most people rarely have the opportunity to see them. However, if you want to keep them as a personal animal, you can actually consider other small animals that have mature artificial breeding technology and are more active.

Although there are no giant whip scorpions in my country, there are similar whip scorpion species, and they are also quite large. If you encounter one while walking on a hot and humid summer night, you might as well observe this strange and harmless little animal carefully - just be careful not to push it too far or you will get sprayed with acetic acid, which is not dangerous, but it does smell bad!

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

Source: Species Calendar