Identify Spider?

[lectricblueyes]

here is a spider I took a snap shot of in a cave in Puerto Rico, about 2 1/2 hours outside of San Juan.

 

[Rick]

Think that is a whip scorpion.............

 

[Emile.Wilson]

Rick is correct that is a whip scorpion

 

[Rick]

Rick is correct that is a whip scorpion

Thought so. They were eating them on an episide of Fear Factor.

 

[Emile.Wilson]

Thought so. They were eating them on an episide of Fear Factor.

I could never go on that show

 

[Griever]

Thought so. They were eating them on an episide of Fear Factor.

What don't they eat on fear factor

 

[Emile.Wilson]

What don't they eat on fear factor

hopefully they dont eat mantids!

 

[lectricblueyes]

lol I should shoot an email to my tour guide and let him know it's not a spider. I wonder how many thousands of misinformed adventurer's think it is. lol

 

[bassist]

lol I should shoot an email to my tour guide and let him know it's not a spider. I wonder how many thousands of misinformed adventurer's think it is. lol

They're known as Whip spiders and Whip scorpions really depends on who you're talking to.

 

[PhilinYuma]

They're known as Whip spiders and Whip scorpions really depends on who you're talking to.

But they are neither spiders nor scorpions! They're uropigids. They are still common enough in the outskirts of Yuma that pest control peeps are sometimes called in to get rid of them. They give off a nasty acidic smell when cornered (usually in your garage, at night!) and we call them "vinegaroons."

 

[Christian]

Actually, whip spiders (Amblypygi) are different from whipscorpions (Uropygi). the latter have a long "whip" at the rear end, whip spiders lack such a whip but have elongated, whip-like seciond pair of legs, as seen in the pic. They like caves, termite mounts and hollow trees, while whipscorpions are usually ground-living.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I was in contact with Philip Johns when he made the following trip to PR, Lectric:

http://www.getlostmagazine.com/bug/0206bug/bug.html

http://www.getlostmagazine.com/bug/0206bug/bugeats.jpg

Christian, I believe it is the first pair of legs that are antenniform.

PhilinYuma, I have both your whipscorpion (vinegaroon) and your local whipspider (Paraphrynus mexicanus) as live pets. Awesome bugs!

Whipspiders are also referred to as tailless whipscorpions. The first name is preferred because it doesn't tend to confuse people as much with (tailed) whipscorpions.

 

[Christian]

Oh indeed, it's the first leg pair... where were my thoughts?

 

[Peter Clausen]

It does often look like the second pair

Hey Lectric, here's your bug:

http://academic.uprm.edu/publications/cjs/.../38_260-262.pdf

 

[lectricblueyes]

It does often look like the second pair Hey Lectric, here's your bug:

http://academic.uprm.edu/publications/cjs/.../38_260-262.pdf

Nice to know exactly what I was looking at. In the Rio Camuy cave system which we spent a whole day inside of, we saw.. SO many of these guys. I can't tell you how huge they are. Unreal.

 

[lectricblueyes]

I was in contact with Philip Johns when he made the following trip to PR, Lectric:http://www.getlostmagazine.com/bug/0206bug/bug.html

http://www.getlostmagazine.com/bug/0206bug/bugeats.jpg

Christian, I believe it is the first pair of legs that are antenniform.

PhilinYuma, I have both your whipscorpion (vinegaroon) and your local whipspider (Paraphrynus mexicanus) as live pets. Awesome bugs!

Whipspiders are also referred to as tailless whipscorpions. The first name is preferred because it doesn't tend to confuse people as much with (tailed) whipscorpions.

Good reading. Thanks. Sounds like we both had a bit of the same experience in PR.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Thanks Christian and Peter. Here's an interesting piece of misinformation on the vinegaroon. My crazed ex daughter in law (no, not the current ones! Lovely ladies both!) believed that the vinegaroon got its name from the fact that when it bit you, you got a taste of vinegar in your mouth. She told me that she had learned this from a pest control guy, so it had to be true! Interestingly, there are a few substances, radiopaque dyes, for example, that when injected intravenously can stimulate a false sense of taste, and this is possibly the origin of the myth. Nice to know that Yuma is now big enough to generate it's own urban legends!

 

[Rob Byatt]

Actually you are all wrong

The common name in the UK has always been tailless whipscorpions; whipscorpions are otherwise known as vinegaroons.

Correct on the scientific names though

 

[Peter Clausen]

I don't mean to be argumentative, Rob, but when I said the preferred name is whipspider, I didn't mean the preferred name in the UK for the last 30 years. I simply meant it is currently preferrable (mostly to me and the author of a very recent book on the subject) to call them whipspiders. Tailless whipscorpions, as I mentioned, is less preferrable because this name causes confusion for some people with whipscorpions. I'm just referring to my perceived trend in the hobby to refer to them as whipspiders. Of course, some people prefer to call them whip spiders (with the space).

Whipscorpions are otherwise known as vinegaroons, otherwise known as vinegarones, otherwise known as grampus, otherwise known as several other things;-) And that's just in "English"!