It's Not a Scorpion, It's Not a Spider, It's a Solifugid! - Observation of the Week, 8/16/22

Our Observation of the Week is this Spiny Moleroman (Genus Chelypus), seen in South Africa by @rachel_grace!

“I remember when visiting Kruger [National Park] we stopped for a long line of Processionary Moth caterpillars crossing the road, which other cars passing by didn't seem to understand,” recalls Rachel Scharf, describing a family trip. “I'd love for people to notice the smaller animals as much as the bigger ones too.”

Well, on a visit to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in April, that’s exactly what Rachel and her companions did!

When we saw this Spiny Moleroman in the Kalahari we were just leaving the Kalahari Tented Camp where we had stayed the night. It was midday and quite hot. As animal sightings are sometimes scarce in the Kgalagadi park, we've come to appreciate the smaller sightings a lot more. So when we noticed a strange something running across the dirt road, we wanted a closer look. We had never seen anything like it! That's why we enjoy coming back to visit the Kgalagadi because every time it's a different experience! After we spotted this strange creature on the move we then noticed every bird in the grass and trees nearby had noticed it too and they really wanted the tasty fast food this creature was for lunch.

Since we wanted to know what it was we didn't want it to get eaten! So we chased off the birds so we could look at it and take the shot, and then safely escorted this creature to the cover of the long grass it was trying to get to.

Like other members of the arachnid order Solifugae, spiny moleromans are not venomous nor do they make silk. They use their relatively large chelicerae (or mouthparts) for grabbing and cutting prey, such as small arthropods or vertebrates. Species in genus Chelypus have specially adapted feet for digging, and like other solifugids can run quite quickly. And while they can deliver a painful bite, they’re not considered medically significant to humans.

Rachel (above, at Professor Anne Rasa's Meerkat Sanctuary) credits her mother for cultivating her childhood interest in nature, and explains that this was rekindled during the pandemic. “All that free time I had gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my love of nature even if just in my garden,” she explains and with the Caterpillar Rearing Group in Africa she starting rearing the lepidopterans in her backyard.

Because I love rearing caterpillars so much, it has opened my eyes to so much more. It led me to discovering iNaturalist and interacting with nature and the people in its community. As I would look for caterpillars and I'd find other weird and wonderful creatures I had no idea about!

I love using iNaturalist to ID all the strange creatures I come across from caterpillars to mammals to this Spiny Moleroman! It really helps me to get out of my comfort zone of Lepidoptera which I enjoy observing and helping to identify the most. The iNaturalist community of other people around the world who love nature and who are always willing to help is really wonderful! Being able to use my phone's camera for all of my observations makes it really accessible for anyone who wants to take part. I really enjoy sharing, exploring and learning with others about God's beautiful creation! :)

- Solifugids are known by many common names in English, such as wind scorpions, sun spiders, and camel spiders. Though they are arachnids, they are neither spiders nor scorpions.

- Check out some of the other cool solifugids on iNat!

- Arachnologist Dr. Paula Cushing goes over some solifugid facts during an interview with Emily Graslie in this episode of The Brain Scoop.

Posted on August 16, 2022 09:58 PM by tiwane