solifugae

similar to magnus but with darker fuscous markings and tergites

Apparently, solifugae can lay more than one clutch! One of my female eremobates Sp. survived one clutch and is developing more eggs again. As i work with them more, and more, i'm figuring out that the most people studying them dont seem to be making many behavioral studies and are more...

same species as previous female, heavily gravid and soon to oviposit. Ive learned more by watching these animals behave in nature than reading the entire solifuge revision page. Being a naturalist will actually teach you more than any amount of Nuclear morphometric analysis EVER will. ;)

The male counterpart of said un-described species of Eremobates. Extremely nervous and seems to have even better eyesight than other eremobatidae. aggressive compared to other eremobates and will bite with little provocation.

Undescribed 2" female eremobates species, gravid. neither kastoni nor vicinus. The region it came from has largely been ignored by people studying solifugae. overwinters as a late-instar nymph, then emerges again in spring when temps are high enough. mature males and females are gone in july.

A striking ammotrechid (slant-faced) solifugide native to the catalina mountains of arizona.

Mature male. Eremorhax are extremely sexually dimorphic, with females having very short limbs and a massive abdomen, similar to the old-world genus Rhagodes. They also share the unusual ant-killing behavior as well. presumably sequestering peptides for defense or digestive aid.

Calexicensis on the left, Titania on the right. the two apparently hybridize and create fertile offspring, as well. it may be that one is actually a subspecies of the other.

hard to say what it is. could be chanbria, could be eremorhax. whatever the case, it's adorable, lol.

example of size.

She has survived her molt. I must now obtain a male

penultimate female bulldozing

solifugae have an unusual way to molt- they basically have a pupal stage before every molt, and become immobile, only capable of moving the abdomen when disturbed. this resting state is often confused for a dead or dying solifuge

mature male

a highly unusual ultra-psammophile only found around shifting transient dune fields. they run around making brief pauses every 6-12" digging to snatch small fossorial insects and spiders causing a peculiar trail of small depressions in the sand, sometimes mistaken for rabbit tracks.

A beautiful ivory-colored scorpion endemic to southern california

A less-common species that reaches a larger size than vicinus, syntopic with the aforementioned species.

A small and common solifuge that never exceeds 1.5" Abundant throughout southern california

Mature male.

Eremocosta are the new world's largest Solifugae. These solifugae will ascend into paloverdes and search for sleeping prey, they probably target urosaurus primarily as those sleep in trees and cannot defend themselves.