Whip-spider

• Its first pair of legs is not used for walking: it has become two extremely fine, extremely long feelers with which it probes the ground and locates prey in total darkness.
• It has no venom and produces no silk, and it is completely harmless to people despite its intimidating appearance.
• Some species in the group have been shown to recognise their own kind, and the mothers care for the young for weeks.
• It is neither a spider nor a scorpion: the amblypygids are an order of their own, with no venom, no silk and no tail. They are completely harmless.
• It walks on six legs. The first pair has been transformed into extremely long, fine feelers, which can span several times the width of the body and which it uses to explore the ground by touch in the dark.
• Its pedipalps are spiny and raptorial: it thrusts them forward to impale prey and hold it fast.
• It navigates with those feelers in a surprising way: experiments have shown it can return to its refuge from several metres away in total darkness, guided by chemical and tactile cues, a remarkable navigational ability in an arachnid.
• It is gregarious and tolerant: several individuals may share the same crevice, and mothers care for their young, which ride on their backs.
• Its looks have made it famous: it is the species that appears in a Harry Potter film, which sent its presence in the terrarium trade soaring.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (arachnid)

Habitat & environment

Rock crevices, bark and caves in savannah and scrub of southern and eastern Africa

Sources consulted: Weygoldt, Whip Spiders: Their Biology, Morphology and Systematics; Hebets et al., trabajos sobre navegación en amblipigios; Universidad de Cornell