Camel Spider
Camel Spider
Invertebrate
Not a true spider at all but a fast-running desert arachnid with oversized jaws; despite fearsome myths it has no venom and kills prey with its powerful mouthparts.
Name Story
Solifugae
means “those that flee from the sun”
What does its name mean?
- Solifugae — those that flee from the sunLatin sol 'sun' + fugere 'to flee'
Its name means 'those that flee from the sun'. True to it, a camel spider dashes for the shade of a rock or a burrow in the fierce desert heat — and because it keeps to the shadow a person casts, people sometimes think it is chasing them when really it is just chasing the shade.