#solifuge

[onenicebugperday]

Devil scorpion, Smeringurus grandis, preying on a camel spider (Solifugae)

While camel spiders (aka wind scorpions aka solifuges) are predators, they have no venom and are easily subdued by a venomous scorpion.

Photographed in Mexico by mhedin

[dreamy-n0mad]

Requested stimboard : A galeodes (solifuge) stimboard with random colors/stims for Anon !!

( Despite the common names, they are neither true scorpions nor true spiders )

[nigelpuppy]

faux solifuge stamp

print & sticker

[sortofdamocles]

Chewing movement of the chelicerae in solifuges dorsal view (top) and side view (bottom)

[gothethite]

Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136664681

[horsebeast]

[crevicedwelling]

If you could play as any type of anthropomorphic arthropod in a game, what arthropods would you gravitate towards and why?

house centipede character for extreme agility and dexterity stats. lasso + sting play style. can outrun most enemies, shed legs if trapped, and very good regen ability. venom can one-shot anything unarmored and smaller than it. low HP, very weak to spiderwebs, can’t fight anything bigger than it, but probably the most fun

Rhagodes solifuge for a berserker type melee experience. not as tanky as a scorpionid, lacks venom, and no armor in the back, but the front end is snowplow/meat grinder/pruning shears type mouthparts that just shred anything they meet. very strong against ants:

see also Manticora, Amblycheila, Sia ferox for similarly vicious insect counterparts

non-combat wise, a parthenogenetic roach like Pycnoscelus surinamensis would be fun for the clone army of followers that you’d accumulate. maybe eumenine wasps or mud daubers would make for a chill pottery-building game + caterpillar hunting minigame after the pot is completed. maintaining a colony of social atemnid pseudoscorpions in a crevice would be a fun building sim (gotta spin webs, brood eggs, set traps for passing bugs)

[vii-spider]

fakemon!

ursnug is based on teddy bears and solifugae

urstinger is based on sun bears and house centipedes

both are a pun on "bugbear"- another word for boogeyman. which is also why urstinger is striped like that. its a beetlejuice reference!

up until the moment i started the render i wasnt sure what type to make urstinger, since ghost and dark were both good fits. in the end i decided dark would make more sense, since i already have a bug ghost type in my dex

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

oh you are going to regret asking me this, because i love bugs and can't resist a soapbox!

so in dragon age we have historically fought a lot of giant spiders. In one of the DA4 behind-the-scenes videos we got a few years ago, they showed a still frame that showed a very large arachnid with distressingly human hands attached to it. of course some people screamed in horror and some others of us instantly mentally became attached to this abomination bc we are broken people.

next part of post contains A LOT OF BUG PHOTOS so anyone who is arachnophobic you are gonna wanna skip this one probably. i cannot add a read more on mobile im so sorry please press 'J' to skip down your dash now

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So this is (a cropped shot of) the Image In Reference:

Look at that! Eight legs plus two creepy arm-hands! And those big bulbous mouthparts are called chelicerae, and they're huge and stick straight forward rather than curving down! And the back of the body is way more flat/oblong than it is bulbous.

Compare this to the spiders in DAI and earlier, which conform to a pretty standard shape across all 3 games:

It's pedipalps (kind of pre-leg by the mouth) are raised, chelicerae curved under, big bulbous abdomen. your classic fantasy spider shape although spiders do come in a much greater variety than this. which makes deviating away from the 'standard' a pretty significant move!!

So the hands-spider, to me, WAY more closely resembles a different organism that while it is an arachnid is NOT a spider, genetically speaking. This is the solifuge!

You'll notice they have a flatter and rigged abdomen (butt) in comparison to a spider, and those extra big pointy mouthparts. It uses its pedipalps like an extra pair of legs in the front rather than for chewing/holding food... or shall we call them an extra pair of HANDS???

Taxonomically/phylogenetically speaking, they are not within the spider class. Though they are also often called sun spiders, camel spiders, or even wind scorpions (they are also not technically scorpions). I like the term 'solifuge' because it lets them be their own unique thing! Depending on where you live you may never see one, but I live in a desert so I have seen many. They can be freaky but are just one of natures many miracles you learn to appeciate, or else you will be doomed to whimper sadly on the sidewalk instead of finishing your hike.

anyway the similarities between this guy and hands-spider stood out to me instantly. even if the devs didn't know what they were basing it off of, one definitely used a reference image of these guys when building Mr Handsy. since they've announced there won't be any spiders in DA:V it is likely he was scrapped 😞 but in my heart i tell myself maybe thye just realized the taxonomic error the fanbase made, and they are simply being correct in identifying these as "not spiders" and we will see them after all in the game :) (<- delusional)

big round of applause for mr hands spider the solifugae!!! and he can even clap along!!!

im Not Looking at the achievements list or any other spoilers, but it has got me making mental lists instead of what the funniest things to get spoiled could be. like

Bothersome: you "Annoyed Solas" 1000 times!

Stop That: you tried to eat the magic rocks and got possessed by a titan

Veilwhoops: selecting the "maybe he has a point" option as Soals tries to open the veil results in game over when everyone dies in the resulting explosion

Dragonrider: your attempt to kiss a dragon resulted in total party death

Shopaholic: you spent all the Veilguard's gold on outfit upgrades

Illiterate: you refused to read any letters, codex entries, etc you found and only vaguely understand what's going on now

Bingo Night: you interacted most with those Old Men (Emmrich and Solas)

[onenicebugperday]

The "aggressive spider" post made me think of my favorite, most specialist, sweetest little bugs of all time, Sunspiders. (Who are not even spiders)

They are very much attracted to shade since they like to borrow under, like plants and stuff, but as a result, are often seen chasing people through the desert, which sounds goofy but ppl really hate it for them.

Ive noticed that solifugae in general are for some reason, incredibly vilified? (There are actually people who believe they kill and eat camels,,, how?) There are like countless misconceptions about these little guys :( but i love them forever and am kissing them in my heart

I deeply love solifuges! Unfortunately my first introduction to them was a chain email when I was in high school circa the early 2000s, maybe 2004 or so, that was some sort of weird pro-war-in-Iraq propaganda about "what our troops are dealing with over there." It included the below photo and a whole bunch of made up "facts" about camel spiders that made them sound absolutely terrifying.

For those who are unfamiliar, this photo uses false perspective and these two lil babes are each only about two inches long. Claims that they're venomous and somehow kill camels or chew their stomachs out are obviously not even close to reality. In fact, solifuges don't have venom at all. They look a little scary and alien if you're unfamiliar with them but they're fairly harmless!

Also they have adorable little faces...

An angel :') Photo by laurenzarate

[snototter]

A striped feather-legged solifuge (Solpugiba lineata) in Karatu, Tanzania

by erica_onnis

[harpalion]

basically the relationship between harpalion and muka is like they are so in love with eachother that it’s actually a little sickening even if you aren’t a hater. harpalions pyramid of things she cares about are like Muka (almost the entire pyramid) and strategy games like chess and mancala (tiny line at bottom of pyramid). well she likes biology but only because muka is a biologist really. harpalion does not especially care for anyone beyond muka… she tolerates ameqran (mukas best friend and caregiver), and respects tafrara (gigantic dragon), and she actually has a strong code of honor and morality. but she doesn’t particularly like anyone, besides muka who is the center of her universe. yuri is real

[onenicebugperday]

Yep, it’s a solifuge, which is a type of arachnid. They’re sometimes called wind scorpions, sun spiders, or camel spiders. But they’re neither a scorpion nor a spider, so those names aren’t very accurate! Also, they are not venomous, so no need to be afraid, although they are capable of giving a little pinch with their jaws, so best not to grab one with your bare hands ;)

Hey @onenicebugperday, do you have any idea what this little guy is? Photographed in central New Mexico.

[jenfoundabug]

Solifuges (aka wind scorpions, sun spiders, or camel spiders) are such an underappreciated order of arachnids. Neither spiders nor scorpions, they're notoriously difficult to study since they don't do well in captivity and they hide very well in the wild. Also they are super fast. But don't let their double bitey mouth scare you - solifuges are non venomous and pose little risk to humans.

[switch]

saw a weird bug in the dark out of the corner of my eye, briefly thought it might have been a small solifuge and got excited. it was just a jerusalem cricket. first one i’ve seen as an adult.

[arachnophanatic]

Not a spider! An Arachnid in the order Solifugae, also called “camel spiders.”

The “jaws” aren’t fangs like spiders would have, but rather two strong vertical toothed pincers (yikes). After finding that out, I had to go get another look at it:

NEAT