#btw scorpions are the arachnids too

[pile-of-bugs]

Today's bug: Tailless whip scorpion!

Sorry I haven't been active for so long.. anyways I got a new pet today - this female tailless whip scorpion (likely Phrynus whitei), so I'll tell you about them!

Tailless whip scorpions are arachnids in the Order Amblypygi (am-BLIP-idge-eye) and they're quite ancient! They even look a bit prehistoric, I think. There's about 150 species of tailless whip scorpion.

Adapted for crawling around dark forests and cave walls, these arthropods are nearly blind - their simple eyes giving them only vague information, like the level of surrounding light. That's where their loooong 2nd pair of legs come in!

(image source: Wikimedia)

See those long "whips" from which they get their name? Those are for feeling their surroundings. When active, they'll be constantly moving around them around to sense their environment. The whips are very fragile and can break easily, but can be regrown every molt!

(image source: Frank Deschandol on iNaturalist)

Tailless whip scorpions are NOT scorpions, nor are they spiders. And those terrifying front claws aren't legs either - they're heavily modified mouthparts, pedipalps to be precise. Speaking of scorpions, their grabby claws are also their pedipalps! In spiders, these are those cute little appendages right next to the chelicerae (the things that have the fangs).

Unlike both scorpions and spiders, however, a tailless whip scorpion cannot bite or sting. They're almost totally harmless! Practically the posterchild for "don't judge a book by its cover," these are some of the friendliest arachnids in the world. You have to seriously to make one angry (which is basically abuse, so don't do that), and even then they'll only try smacking you with their thorny pedipalps, never biting with their fangs.

About the only truly scary part of handling them (once you get past their appearance) is their speed. These things normally move very slowly (on account of the "blind and has to touch everything" thing), but if startled, they'll bolt in the opposite direction with incredible speed! They really, really would rather not confront you at all. I cannot emphasize enough how completely NOT dangerous these arachnids are, despite their look!

(image source: Jonathan's Jungle Roadshow)

Btw, did you know the mommas make great parents? Like many other large arachnids, the mothers will take their young with them until they're large enough to hunt on their own. They hatch from an egg pouch carried on the underside of the abdomen, which looks absolutely alien - in the source for the above image, you can find pictures of the whole process.

You may have seen this meme ^ Their pedipalps, usually folded up, can also unfold to catch prey or defend themselves (in the original video for this pic, the owner is provoking this reaction - something I don't condone, even if it showcases their grab ability very well). Tailless whip scorpions are carnivores, and the prey they catch are usually small insects like crickets or flies.

Tailless whip scorpions are found in almost every warm, tropical part of the world - Central/South America, Africa, Asia, and even some islands like the Phillipines!

Here's my t.w.s.' habitat. They're very easy pets to take care of! Just make sure you have a habitat that favors verticality - they need to be able to climb to feel at home! Cork board is best, either just on the back, or 2-3 sides of the enclosure. Humidity is a must, so have the base be filled with cocofiber, then add water and perhaps a heating pad set on low to maintain moisture. Moss helps too! All that's left is to feed them - just once or twice a month is enough.

The light on my display is too hot, and heats up the plastic really quickly, so I only use it briefly to find and observe her. They don't actually need light since they're used to being in the dark!

I hope you liked these facts on tailless whip scorpions. If you know more facts, lmk or just add it to the post! I'm still learning things myself - like for example, you can tell males/females apart by the size of their pedipalps (the males have reaaaally long pedipalps, like the one in that meme, the females have much shorter ones).

#bugs #bug #nature #insect #insects #entymology #forest #zoology #arachnid #arachnids #spiders #spider #whip scorpion #tailless whip scorpion #creepy

[elendsessor]

i’m terrified of most arachnids but goddamn i want the monhun dev team to bring back the akuras or try their hand again with scorpion wyverns.

they’re are so fucking cool. i mean it’s entirely possible now that temnocerans exist (that wasn’t a classification when these two were introduced so they were carapaceons) and let’s be honest there’s only so many times you can make big spiders before it gets old.

these guys are definitely my favorite more “accurate” mons since they really are big scorpions but with deadly crystals (which btw crystallization is another cool thing that should be brought back) and thank you design team and a lot of fictional scorpions for having their eyes not be on top of their head since it’s actually ten times creepier and i can’t handle it lol. i really like how vashimu’s more based in physical/bulky prowess while jebia is speedier and uses its tail—real world scorpions with larger claws tend to be less venomous than those with smaller ones as they can rely on the pinchers more for protection. ones that are smaller/slimmer have to rely on tails and being tricker to harm. while physically they aren’t too different, having the akuras have these varying advantages both makes sense and creates an interesting duo. this might be just me but i also noticed the hair lengths on them are a bit different too? as in jebia’s are shorter. again probably just how i see it.

the kusubami are also just baby scorpions.

yeah baby scorpions tend to be lighter skinned since they haven’t molted much and are generally more vulnerable. tend to be less territorial as a result so they chill with one another. though this also implies the akuras might be cannibals since scorpions do eat their young. uh oh.

something i would love to see done with a scorpion monster tho is for them to glow since they can, in fact, do that. (TRIGGER WARNING: SHOWING A REAL SCORPION PIC BELOW)

yeah this is real. it’s unknown exactly the purpose of this, but it’s likely to attract prey who can only see uv light.

idk how a fight with another akura would go if they did glow but seeing how monsters like lucent nargacuga are only fought at night that could be how it’s done. regardless it’s a thing i don’t see enough of with fictional scorpions and i’d love for there to be more.

just gimme another scorpion mon please.

#shantien rambles #i’m so tired rn so this is sloppily written sorry #monster hunter #monster hunter frontier #arachnophobia #arachnids #just putting out them warning tags??? kinda???

[loopscereal]

hope this isn't a weird question, but..... i am a bit lost about the whole owynn getting his stinger chomped off during the fight with freddy.......

what exactly happened? (not in the fight i mean. you mentioned freddy getting stung i think but then that would mean he got stung right before he chomped on the stinger? because otherwise once it's already broken it can't sting him)

and in your art i see future (or, well, current) owynn depicted with a stinger. but i thought scorpions couldn't grow their stingers back?

sooo is the current stinger on owynn a fake or artificial one? or did owynn happen to have 2 stingers (that is a thing i think. its very rare between scorpions like 1 in every 5000)? or did it actually grow back due to owynn not being an actual literal scorpion and more of a sort of anthropomorphic version of one (much like the rest of the characters)?

HOPE THIS DOESN'T COME OFF AS RUDE BTW im just really curious............ and lost...

uh uh uh hi very good questions! Not rude at all dont worry bout it !! i love questionsi love interaction i love this lol anyways

yes they were stung before the stinger was bitten off, thaaat is the correct assumption.

And yeah, yeah ur right that would be the case normally!

However comma due to the scorpion bit being fused and scaled up with the human part we took some liberties with anatomy to make stuff work given how on paper they are completely opposite things. 

Small scorpions can and have shown the ability to regenerate though to a smaller scale, and you would be right to think that their tails don't grow back! But that is mostly because they die too fast before it can actually grow back, either lifespan wise or just because of medical stuff that they cannot prevent or treat because they r an animal, however when we scaled scorpions up and made them more human like and all of that jazz we exaggerated some stuff so that it could work anatomically, stuff like the position of the stinger, how venom works, and also as you've pointed out regeneration :D 

it mostly stems from wanting to create some common ground between arachnids since all arthropods being so different from eachother is sort of an anatomical nightmare when you compare their differences with the differences between a bear and a fox.

So we kinda yoinked a fun fact about the poster child of arachnids, (being spiders), and spread their ability to regrow limbs to all arachnids, which isn't too crazy since scorpions CAN regenerate just at a way slower pace.

So that alongside, the fact that he has medicine, he is bigger, and he has human attributes, his regeneration is boosted a lot, but it did take him some years to fully grow it back, that's actually why he started braiding it into his hair :9

if you want more specifics you can ask pia he's the arthropod nerd 😃 @threepoint14art THIS GUY KNOWS ARTHROPODS IF YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER ARTHROPOD QUESTIONS ASK THEMMM

HI PIA <3

long story short: Owynns current stinger is a real!

#THANK YOU FOR THE ASK VALID QUESTION DRTHSRYFHJ #sorry for the late reply i just saw this now lol #ask #reply #response #i cant believe ive gotten more than one ask abt our goddamn fnafhs au that scrazy (/pos)

[phoenixfangs]

too scared to go to bed because there was a fucking scorpion in my apartment walking around like it owned the place earlier. what if there are more.

sad to say i did kill it and sweep its corpse outside but like what if apollo got stung or ate it or something. the only reason i knew it was there was because i heard apollo chirping and meowing at it, so i looked up from the couch and saw him trying to paw at it and i was like EEEEEEQUQUHGHHH NONONONONO

i dont WANT to be the person that kills bugs and arachnids, i WANT to be the person that puts them outside, but even outside of fearing for my cats safety specifically with a fucking scorpion, big spiders and roaches and now scorpions (which ive never seen irl btw this is the first one and granted it was maybe the size of my pinky, maybe even smaller, but still)—irl those scare me So Bad like visceral gut dropping fear, that leaving them alone makes me so anxious and wiggy i do not feel safe unless i am throwing my shoe at them and making sure they are Not walking around in my space anymore

plus its like yeah i WANT to put them outside, but outside is where they CAME from and they came IN from outside with absolute ease, i LITERALLY watched this scorpion crawl under my door like it was nothing and then crawl back inside before i killed it

like if i put the shit outside with that in mind its just gonna come back inside. and i dont WANT THAT.

im just so bothered rn and nervous like whats next. an Adult scorpion. a fucking snake. am i gonna see a goddamn home invader crawling up from underneath my door with a knife ready to kill me. anythings fucking possible now.

#mine #scariest shit ive ever seen when i looked down and saw those pincers and that tail #For The First Time Ever #im going to apartment management tomorrow and demanding they call pest control #i dont want to see another scorpion outside of images and safely secured in a tank ever again

[6half6empty6]

Hey lovely, what’s your favorite kind of insect, arachnid, and frog, specific kinds of you can, I’m doing something semi-important

-Pachydiplax longipennis (Blue Dasher Dragonfly)

-Centruroides gracilis (Blue Scorpion)

-Dendrobatidae (Poisonous Dart Frog)

hope this helps <3

#btw scorpions are the arachnids too #for the few ppl who didn’t know #ask #justalonleyfern

[cosmicbloos]

So I’ve been super blocked and haven’t been able to draw anything I’ve wanted to draw for the last like almost month, so I decided to draw up some bug(and arachnid?) characters after some of my favorite buggie buds! Well, except Jake, since he belongs to @jacksonn-galaxyy. Basically in GTTOS there are shape shifters that can be just about any animal, bug, whatever and I love making them sO I DEcided to make some more to get some inspiration back cos its just idk its fun i dont need a reason

So from the top we have two characters that I’ve drawn before; Archie who is a Skeleton Tarantula and Honey, who is a Bumblebee! They are majorly in love btw and their two good friends Spoons and Timothy got them together. Archie is a dancer, before he died and became an shifter, he had TONS of exotic pets, he was really into tarantulas and snakes, which might have been his downfall for dying maybe... Honey on the other hand was a small town boy selling flowers and being a big bee fanatic. He wanted to be a beekeeper, but he never got too into it due to him being seriously allergic to bees.

Then we have Frankie, a Striped Blue Crow Butterfly(Euploea Mulciber) and Gavin, an Emperor Scorpion. Frankie was brought up in a pretty religious family, was gay AND trans and basically got kicked out, so he spent the majority of his time around butterfly gardens and volunteering to take care of the flowers which was what got him so interested in butterflies. Gavin was apart of a fairly poor family that had to deal with all sorts of bugs and junk getting into their home, he was always the one to get them out because he’s actually a huge softy and would never ever kill anything, especially scorpions even though everyone always told him to because they sting. Gavin really loves to be super vulgar around Frankie mainly because Frankie doesn’t know much? He was sheltered, so Gavin finds it hilarious to make him uncomfortable but to a point, he doesn’t want to make him too uncomfortable, because he may be a bit of a dick, but he’s not that big of a dick. plus he...kinda really likes Frankie and doesnt know what to do about it?

Next there is Nelly, a Woolly Aphid, which I call fluffy fairies bugs usually and she is SUPER sweet and loves to just go with the flow. She doesn’t exactly eat meat, but she loves fruits and sweets, when she was alive she lived in a home in the woods where there were tons of Woolly Aphids and she loved to pretend they were mischievous fairies coming to take her away. Slightly morbid, but she had fun with it. Next to her is Dillon, a very shy little Ladybug (personally i think calling them Ladybirds is more fun) who is Nelly’s best friend and also has a major crush on her. Dillon is a little skittish, but has a pretty tough shell, when she was alive she got picked on a lot for being quiet and a little depressing at times, but she had a huge interest in insects, especially ladybugs because she lived next to a tree farm and those little bugs would flock to her home. She’s basically trying her hardest to be a good friend to Nelly while also seriously trying to get with her WHILE ALSO trying to make it seem she doesn’t like Nelly in that way. 

LASTLY we got Lance, a Green Darner Dragonfly. Lance is really energetic and loves to build stuff. He really enjoys taking things apart and putting them back together. He also isn’t the best at personal space and is always buzzing up into everyone’s faces, while also being a pretty big flirt, but he’s just so sweet you can’t help but smile when he does it, it’s endearing honestly. When he was alive he used to love going to this pond where there were dozens of dragonflies and would try to catch them in jars, but would always feel bad directly after and let them go. He is also pretty good friends with Gavin. Beside him is skittery little Jake, a Phyllodes Imperialis or the Imperial Fruit Sucking Moth, who belongs to my boyfriend so I can’t tell you much besides that Lance thinks he’s super cute and he is also super gay and emo

#spookys art #spookys ocs #others ocs #jacksonn galaxyy #guide to the other side characters #i forgot some bugs that i also really like but thats okay i can always make more honestly