Tailless Whipscorpion
Subject: what’s this bug?????
Geographic location of the bug: Baja Mexico, East Cape
Date: 03/21/2018
Time: 03:15 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I saw 2 of these strange bugs. They were in dark corners, on concrete surfaces, long antenna (2) and front crap/scorpion like legs as well as spider legs. The picture is after I sprayed the spider and moved it. It’s a little curled up here. Sorry for the shadows.
How you want your letter signed: Kathleen
Tailless Whipscorpion
Dear Kathleen,
This was a harmless Tailless Whipscorpion, a shy nocturnal predator that will help keep your residence free of unwanted pests like Cockroaches. We try to educate the web browsing public about the marvelous creatures that crawl about, so we created an Unnecessary Carnage tag long ago to draw attention to creatures that have been needless dispatched because they looked scary.
Daniel,
Thank you for your response. I felt so bad ending this bug’s life, but until I was sure of what it was, I was rather scared. I needed that a day before in the dark corner I found it as there was a huge cockroach that came from that spot.
Hmmmm… we learn as we go. I will share the information with my neighbors so they know to just move the intimidating whipscorpion and not harm it.
Thank you!!!
Kathleen
Thanks for the update Kathleen,
We should probably clarify that though they are not venomous, Tailless Whipscorpions are predators and they do have rather powerful mandibles, meaning they might bite if carelessly handled, but they are shy and not aggressive around people, so provided you don’t try to pick one up, they pose no threat to you.
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