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Solfugids or Wind scorpion, are not technically spiders but belong
to an order of arachnids known for their speed and their large,
forward-pointing chelicerae, or biting fangs. They live in tropical or
subtropical dry areas of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Worldwide,
there are about 900 known species of wind scorpions, and in North America
there are 120. They were the subject of the urban legend going around
about soldiers in Iraq being chased and eaten by large spiders.
Wind scorpions are so named because they seem to move "like the
wind." They are also called solfugids, after their order. Other names
for wind scorpions include camel spiders, sun scorpions, and sun spiders,
because some species are active during the day. Most species of
wind scorpion are actually nocturnal, but they are often attracted to
light. They prey mainly on insects and other invertebrates, although
some of the larger species occasionally eat small vertebrates, such as
young lizards. Their unusually large chelicerae, or jaws, point forward
and are used to crush and shred the prey. Wind scorpions are not venomous
but they can bite humans and the wound may become infected.
Wind scorpions range in length from 1 to 70 mm (0.25 to 2.75 in). The
most common species in the United States are a few centimetres (up to
1.2 in) long. They inhabit the drier, warmer parts of the west (though
one species can be found in Florida) and are harmless.
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Comment from one of our viewers:
Hi, Was just reading through your
website as a friend of mine works as a security consultant
in Iraq and woke up today to one of these things chewing on
his leg. You claim that they don’t eat flesh, but he has a 2
inch diameter, 1cm deep hole in his leg from this thing. He
took the dead spider into the doctor with him so that it
could be identified and him given the appropriate treatment.
Definitely a camel spider… if it wasn’t feeding, what was it
doing? Thanks Tammy
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3 July, 2008:
I found this spider on the floor next to my dog in our basement. We live in Denver, CO. I showed it to my sons and we are very curious to learn what we are looking at. Is this molting or perhaps laying an egg sac. Can you identify this species and tell us what is happening? The spider has pincers or fangs in the front and 2 tiny black eyes on top.
Thank you! |
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6 June, 2008:
Dear Sir,
I thought you might be interested in these pictures of a wind scorpion. I found him in my kitchen. I live in the foothills of central California. He was about 2-2.5" and very aggressive.
Carrie
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21 October, 2007:
Dear Sir,
Our family are missionaries in Zambia. We have been here
for 10 years. Recently, we moved to a new house outside of town. We have
noticed within the last month, large spiders coming into our house only
in the evenings. The local population refers to these spiders as "light
spiders", and claim that they are poisonous. I have attached two photos of one that we caught
tonight. It has a much larger abdomen than the others we have killed
recently, so perhaps this specimen is a female. There are two pairs of
pincers or fangs on the front and when it bites something venom is
expelled.
Your expertise would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Andrew |
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3 September, 2007:
Here are some pictures of spiders we've found in our Chandler, AZ home.
The black widow is pretty obvious, but we thought the the wolf spider
with eggs was pretty amazing, and we are pretty sure it's a sun spider
with those long antennae legs and fangs! Hope they are interesting to
you, and if we're mistaken on any please let us know! Thanks! Debbie
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28 April, 2007:
Hello, My name is Lung and i live in Los
Angeles, California. I'd like to know if you can
identify this spider? I happen to come across it in
our bathroom. I notice that this type of spider
doesn't spin a web to catch pray. I hope the pic. is
clear enough..t hank you
Lung T.
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Reply: Yes I agree it looks
like a wind scorpion/sun spider/camel spider - species -solifugids.
It's a bit darker in colouring than the ones I've seen photos of
though.
27 February, 2007:
Hi there I am a commercial diver working in Oman at the
moment we are staying in Sohar while we work at the port
building a quay wall , now the other night myself and my
mates came back from work kicked back and relaxed on the
porch and then saw this little beastie crossing our
threshold en route to the inside of our house so we
scooped it into a container for observation it was
really aggressive tried to chew through the plastic and
when it sensed movement near by it raised its abdomen
like a scorpion can you please tell us exactly what kind
of spider this is? it looks like a wind scorpion.
thanks Robin Day
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14 January, 2007:
Glen,
This is a spider from South Africa
. I was hoping you (or one of your visitors) would know what
it is. It was quite aggressive and took no time devouring a
Christmas beetle it caught. Look at those fangs!
Thanks
Gerrie
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27 July, 2006:
I happen to come
across your website and find it very
informative and interesting. I
thought you might like to have this
spider ( it's a solfugid) for your
archaive. It's picture was taken by
a friend station in Iraq and from my
friend's account gave our soldiers
quite a scare!
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27 July, 2006:
I attached this picture of a bug that
looks like a camel spider. I caught this thing in my back yard
in El paso, Tx. Was this bug always in El paso or could it had
been brought here by are military forces that go back and forth
from Iraq all the time? I was very suprise to see this thing
that looked like and acted like a camel spider here in TX. I've
seen them in Iraq all the time and feared them very much so.
Sometimes in Iraq I couldn't sleep well knowing these things
were crawling around and on us during the night. Can you help me
figure this one out. Thanks C.W.
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14 July, 2006:
The second
spider I found in my bath room although I don’t think
that it is a spider you mite know what it is. Thanks so
much… Dan Mahoney
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14 July, 2006:
Glen,
It's been a while since I've submitted anything, but came across
this
guy in the Escondido foot hills a couple of weeks ago lookin for
snakes.
The guys I was with couldn't identify it, but knew it by sight
and said it can/will delivery a pretty nasty bite...
//Todd
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14 July, 2006:
Hi Glen. I have seen a couple of sunspiders running around
my house. I live in Norco Ca. most of the people i have seen
that have these live in the desert areas but i see that
there all over thank for the info on your site.
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28 June, 2006:
Here are a couple of pictures of this spider we keep seeing in
our house. it's really creepy! ICK! not sure which picture would
be most helpful to you, so here's a bunch! Christine
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28 June, 2006:
I was wondering id someone could identify this bug. I am no
spider expert but i believe that spiders are only supposed to
have eight legs. This one has ten... or so it appears. Is it an
impersonator or a real spider? Any info is appreciated.
-Grant
So Cal
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21 June, 2006:
Dear Glen,
We live in Greece in the Peloponnese in Galatas. My wife Mo
is frightened of this very quick insect. please can you tell
me if it's poisonous and what it eats? The Greeks don't know
what it is...is it Foreign? or have we to kill it because
it's dangerous? I am disabled because of a stroke and it's
hard to run down!
Thanks a lot. Peter and Mo
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14 June, 2006:
Glen,
We
had found this spider by our front door in Henderson, NV. We
were wondering if you knew what it was and if it was poisonous?
Thanks
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4 June, 2006:
My
cat found this thing in our house in Las Vegas yesterday. Any
idea what this is?
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4 June, 2006:
I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of spider is in
the attached picture. I'm in Djibouti, Africa, and came across
this spider. Thanks Eric
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4 March, 2006:
Thought you might be interested in these pictures of a
camelspider (or windscorpion) which my delightful young cat
brought home to me a few nights ago. The creature was
enormous
with a leg span of c.14 cm and very aggressive. I battled it
for around 10 minutes, armed with nothing but a broom and a
can of ‘Raid’ before it eventually succumbed. I fished it
out of the trash can the following day to take these photos,
at which point it had been dead for almost 24 hours and had
shrunk slightly in size. I know they are relatively
harmless, however, I NEVER want to enounter another one!
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4 March, 2006:
Glen, Congratulations on an amazing
web site. Attachedmlittle fellow is about 2cm in length and gave my
wife a bit of a fright in our home in Cyprus. Are any of
your visitors able to put a name to it?
Regards
Ken |
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6 September, 2005:
If some one was looking for info on
this spider if would be helpful to know they are call Sun spiders
are also know as windspiders and windscorpions. The order name is
spelled Solfugida or Solifugae sometimes which adds to the
confusion. The most striking characters are the enormous,
two-jointed jaws with the pincers hinged up and down. There is no
poison associated with the mouthparts.Windscorpions prey consists of
insects spiders, and some small vertebrates, such as lizards. The
solpugids are aggressive hunters seizing their prey with their arms.
They have no poison to help them capture food. I just thought you
might like to have photos. I them in a much larger size if like,
just let me know. I did have much time to look at your site after I
found it. But like what I seen! |
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Reply: It is a solfugid - otherwise known as a camel
spider, wind scorpion or sun spider.
Click here for some info. Definitely NOT a wolf spider!! Click
for a larger view
31 August, 2005:
found in yuma arizona august 2005 <<Wolf Spider_3.jpg>> |
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14 July, 2005:
HI don’t know if a
wind scorpion is technically a spider, but I thought these photos
would interest you. |
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Reply: It looks like a solfugid - otherwise known as a camel
spider, wind scorpion or sun spider.
Click here for some info.
18 June, 2005:
Hi, Found this in my
house (in Henderson, NV) last night. It's active and fast. Can
you identify it and offer some info.? Where does it live; what
does it eat; is it dangerous/poisonous? Thanks, Vic |
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Reply: Yes it is a camel spider.
Click here for some info.
8 June,
2005:
I found this in my house. What do you think? It looks
like a camel spider to me. I live in Northern California. Thanks,
Bret : )
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Reply: This
looks like a solfugid.
Click here for some info.
2 June, 2005:
I found this spider
in southwest Montana. Can you help me identify it? |
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Reply: This is a camel spider.
Click here for some facts about them. They are NOT deadly!!!
29 May, 2005:
Dear sir, In the Arabian gulf in the desert we
have a strange spider we call it ( Bo Sabak) it's very fast and
deadly, I wish you have a look at the attachment I add to this
latter I wish to hear from you soon
Best regards
Yousif Adel |
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Reply: This is part of the
solfugid family - also called sun spider, wind scorpion, wind
spider, camel spider. See below for a link
26 May, 2005:
Hi, I found this dead behind my dogs cage. I
am worried about what kind of spider it is. I have never seen it
before. I worry about my 2 dogs and my 10 month old. Can you help
me. I live in El Paso , Texas. Attached is a picture of it. Hope its
clear enough. Thanks Haylie |
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Reply: This is part of the
solfugid family - also called sun spider, wind scorpion, wind
spider, camel spider.
http://entowww.tamu.edu/extension/youth/bug/bug168.html
18 May, 2005:
Hi found this in my garage. i live in valley center (northern
san diego) and ive seen about 4 of them. it looks kinda like a small
camel spider. any idea what this is? |
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Reply: This is part of the
solfugid family - also called sun spider, wind scorpion, wind
spider, camel spider.
17 May, 2005:
Hello,
My wife and I found this spider on our front porch and we were
wondering what kind of spider it is could you please help us? We
live in Surprise, Arizona if that helps?
Thank You,
Jon Whipple |
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Reply: Certainly looks like a
member of the solfugid family which includes camel spiders. |
13 May, 2005:
Hello, I looked on your site for a way to submit a picture
but didn't find anything, so I thought maybe the only way to make a
submission is via email. The image is attached. This spider was
found in a shipping box of electronic parts in Southern California
in a package that had just been received from Taiwan. I don't think
it is a local species of southern California, so it is mostly likely
Taiwanese. Other people I have asked have suggested it is some form
of Solifugae. Any help identifying it would be appreciated. Thanks.
Preston Lewis |
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Your unidentified "spider" on the "unidentified spiders 2004"
page is actually two Solifugids (common name wind scorpion,
camel spider or sun scorpion/spider). It appears to be two Galeodes
granti which are rather common in the areas that the American troops
are right now. The Solifugid on the lower portion of the picture is
holding on to the upper Solifugid's abdomen by its mandibles. They
are relatively harmless arachnids (no venom) but they have a
significant "bite". I have had one for about a year now and they are
quite fascinating
http://kinetikx.8m.com/inverts/Ggranti.html. They move very
quickly, thus the common name "wind scorpion". Solifugids only live
about a year and are very interesting to observe, especially when
eating. I only wish that the soldiers in the picture weren't
grabbing the animal by its leg with a pair of pliers- they are
rather delicate even though they appear very ferocious. Some records
say that they seek out shadows very actively (which makes sense due
to their environment) and some accounts state that they will even
follow the shadow of humans, thus some people think that they are
being "chased" which is not the case at all. A very good resource
for information is located here
http://www.tarantulaspiders.com/pages/solifugid.htm
David Gennari
http://kinetikx.8m.com |
10 April, 2004
Reply:
I've had at least 4 emails from people who have been sent this photo
from the US troops in Iraq. They look like camel spiders and I've
been sent photos before from people who have found this spider
in the Middle East. They certainly don't chew people's legs off as
has been reported!!! |
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Reply: This is a camel spider or
solfugid. They are common in the drier areas.
25
December, 2004:
hi
i use vue print to open attch. i found this spider dead on the floor
what is it .i hope you can open the attch. i live in Las Vegas can
you help me??
thank you |
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Reply: Looks like a camel spider,
(other names - wind scorpion, sun spider.)
13
September, 2004:
Glen,
Do you have any idea what this is and whether it is dangerous? My
wife found it inside our new house in Rocklin California. It is
agressive and fast. Ugly and scary too! I have two toddlers, the 3
year old loves
to hunt for spiders. I'm concerned. Thanks
Mel Jones
Rocklin California |
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Another Reply:
Actually.... They are arachnids, but they aren't spiders. The
technical name for them is "Solfugid", but they go by "sunspider"
or "windscorpion" ( the front two appendages aren't technically
"legs", but "pedipalps", and are used for catching prey, not for
locomotion. ) It is likely either stuffed or pregnant, like he said.
These are not
dangerous, as they don't have venom, but they can give quite the
bite with
those jaws. Nathan Hepworth
Reply:
This spider is in the same family as the
camel spider, but a bit smaller in size. Judging from my personal
experience with Camel Spiders in Iraq, the ten legged creature in
this picture is obviously a female (bolder in size), and had either
eaten a big meal, or is pregnant (one of the two). They are not
exactly in the family of arachnids, because they have ten legs, the
front two used to assist in climbing slippery surfaces. They can go
where a regular spider cannot. |
13 August, 2004
Ok, I skimmed through your great spider site and didn’t see
this spider. We found it at the end of our garage in Las Vegas,
Nevada and we were wondering what kind of spider this may be. Of if
it is a spider at all. Thanks! Cheers
Kurt |
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