Random
· 31ST OF JULY, THE YEAR 2005SUN SPIDER
Can’t think of much to say this week, so here’s picture of a little friend I brought home a few weeks ago.
It’s a sun spider, or wind scorpion, probably in the family Eremobatidae. We find them in the snake traps at particularly dry sites. They started showing up in late June when things began to really dry out. They’re actually more closely related to scorpions than spiders. They’re quite fast, and check out those massive jaws. Here’s a more illustrative pic.
They’re not venomous, and you can pretty safely take one in hand without getting bitten, though I guess you wouldn’t want to squeeze. I find them particularly terrifying and therefore fascinating, and since this one was the first one I found (almost) I gleefully shoved it in a bag and took home to photograph. Apparently soldiers in Iraq see them out there and have invented all sorts of wonderful myths about them dining on red-blooded American flesh. I think I find natural history misinformation just as amusing as the truth.
2 COMMENTS
how bad is it whin you haved two are more in your home wha hapins whin you get bit?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s not bad at all! Their bite is probably painful, but it isn’t venomous. In my very limited experience, they aren’t aggressive, and would only bite you if you actually grabbed one. They do look kind of freaky though, so if you want them out, I would try to get one under a bucket, slip a piece of paper or cardboard underneath, and let it go outside. They’re really fast, though, so you might have trouble catching them. For more info, check out http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05589.html.