What is a sun spider?



In 2004, an email with a picture of a giant spider generated a lot of interest among netizens. Originating from an American soldier stationed in Iraq, it said that the spider, called a sun spider, could inject a sleeping soldier with anaesthetic and make off with a chunk of his flesh!



Spider experts laughed it off as a hoax, putting it down to a general fear of spiders that most people have. Some other popular myths about sun spiders: they can jump 2 metres in the air, run at 40 km per hour and lay their eggs in a camel’s belly. In Mexico they are even known as ‘deer killers’.



Sun spiders are also known as camel spiders and wind scorpions and are usually found in arid regions. They measure 12-15 cm with legs stretched out. Camel spiders are tricky creatures. These desert arachnids look like they have ten legs, but two of these limbs are really pedipalps, sensors that help them locate prey. They’re called spiders, but they’re not part of the same order of species as a tarantula or a wolf spider. Instead of fangs, they have powerful jaws. Apologies for the nightmare fodder – despite their fearsome appearance, they’re not actually very dangerous, unless you’re the size of a grasshopper.



They are aggressive and with their bready eyes, hairy bodies and bulging jaws, they do look nightmarish. Though their bite can be painful, they don’t have venom glands. They prey on insects, rodents, lizards, snakes and small birds, seizing them in jaws that are among the largest in the animal kingdom relative to size.



The Latin name ‘solifugae’, given to these spiders means ‘those that flee from the sun’, probably because most of the 1100 species hunt at night, racing over the sand like speeding dune buggies.



 



Picture Credit : Google


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