Amblypygid

Created By:
Werle,S.F.

About the Image

Students who have taken BIOL-497h (Tropical Field Biology) will recognize this. This is a tailless whipscorpion (or a whip spider) from the Caribbean Island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands. These are actually neither spiders nor scorpions, but a separate order of chelicerate called Amblypygida. This particular specimen is a member of the genus Phrynus. A nocturnal predator, it uses the highly modified second pair of legs to detect chemicals and vibrations in its environment. Because of this highly developed sensory system, amblypygids are reputed to have the largest brain to body weight ratio of any invertebrate, which is why this one is named Einstein. This is the last thing many a night-crawling cricket or cockroach will see. This speciman was photographed using a Canon Powershot G2 digital camera with a 58mm macro lens.

Steven D. Brewer -- sbrewer@bio.umass.edu
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST