Solifugae is an order of animals in the class Arachnida known variously as camel spiders, wind scorpions, sun spiders, or solifuges. The order includes more than 1,000 described species in about 153 genera. Despite the common names, they are neither true scorpions (order Scorpiones) nor true spiders (order Araneae). Much like a spider, the body of a solifugid has two tagmata: an opisthosoma (abdomen) behind the prosoma (that is, in effect, a combined head and thorax). At the front end, the prosoma bears two chelicerae that, in most species, are conspicuously large. The chelicerae serve as jaws and in many species also are used for stridulation. Unlike scorpions, solifugids do not have a third tagma that forms a “tail”. Most species of Solifugae live in dry climates and feed opportunistically on ground-dwelling arthropods and other small animals. The largest species grow to a length of 12–15 cm (5–6 in), including legs. A number of urban legends exaggerate the size and speed of the Solifugae, and their potential danger to humans, which is negligible.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugaehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugae
I think this is the hardest I have laughed and screamed in a really long time…
Now living out in the bush and having a braai can sometimes be a tricky business. Tom has this super crazy phobia of this specific spider… The red Roman Spider or more commonly known globally as the Sun spider… Tom has a funny personality on his own already. He loves making jokes and and overall is mostly a funny guy outside of work.
He can really be a class clown, when he’s in the right mood…
I think I laugh the most when he is super scared of something, never ask him to be your knight in shining armor when it comes to freaky, ugly creepy crawlies like this one. Well at the time when we caught this monster of a creepy crawly, I wasn’t aware they are actually aggressive and can bite really sore.
We were sitting outside having a great chat about our dreams and what we would love to do still within this year, when suddenly Tom felt a weird tickle on his foot. At first he didn’t take note of it and thought it might just be a piece of grass, but this grass started to move, right now I am so wishing I had the camera ready to video him…
I think it was the fastest I have seen Tom jump on anything before and that’s saying a lot… since we use to work in construction.
For some reason Roman Spiders/Sun Spiders seem to really be attracted to Tom’s Shadow. Besides that I have this really bad habit of putting my feet up on chairs and couches all the time. I can even walk past the stupid things and they will never chase my shadow, maybe they after Tom’s hairy legs or something (Read facts below)…
I sound like a really bad fiance, but I love watching Tom run away from these freaky looking critters… HAHAHA!
On this occasion I had to be the hero in his story, but he does save me more often then I save him, so I don’t mind saving him once in a while… when he has to save me almost everyday…
Unfortunately we do not have our own photo of this freaky creature, he was way to fast tryna get away from the light and any footage we have is super blurry…
A few facts about this scary Critter that roams our sandy planes:
Despite their name they are not actually spiders, the only thing they have in common with a spider is their 8 legs!
You know that feeling, when you think something is stalking or watching you out in the bush, maybe just check your shadow there really might be something following you in the dark of night or in the daytime… These creatures are supposedly daytime dwellers, running from shadow to shadow, but we have only encountered these shady creatures at night, much delight to our kitten and Puppy…
No, they do not have 10 legs as popular belief might suggest, I guess it just makes them sound even more scarier and more alien like, but there front lobes are more like feelers than legs and are way to short to use as legs…
Although it is not a spider it is still classified as a Arachnida.
Ok, so here is some good and bad news all in one go – Roman/sun spiders are not poisonous, but tend to be quite agressive and can apparently bite really sore – I seriously hope never to be bitten by one these scary creatures…
They tend to shave your hair for you while you sleep… Reports might suggest that these creepy crawlies will give you a really bad free beard trim and all they ask for in return is that you donate your hair to their nests. There has been cases where animals have been left with bald patches after an unexpected visit from mister Sun Spider.
These things are super vicious – they eat – spiders, scorpions, even small reptiles, but you wanna know the worst part – they will even prey on each other and eat their prey alive, that’s just horrible. They have super strong pincers like a crab which helps them successfully catch and eat their prey…
They can grow between 70 -160 mm. The bigger the scarier…
I am a lover of almost any creature, but never been a huge fan of Spiders – Especially – Hairy, aggressive, huge and poisonous ones!!!!
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