Spiders in Iraq ( the story)

They run 10 mph, jump three feet, are a nocturnal spider, so only come out at night unless they are in shade. When they bite you, you are injected with Novocain so you go numb instantly. You don't even know you are bitten when you are sleeping, so you wake up with part of your leg or arm missing because it has been gnawing on it all night long.

If you are walking around and you bump something that is casting a shadow over it, and the sun makes contact with it, you better run. It will instantly run for your shadow, and scream the whole time it is chasing you.

PS. The one on the bottom is eating the one on the top. These are Spiders found daily in IRAQ by troops. Imagine waking up and seeing one of these in your tent!!

Spiders in Iraq ( the Truth)

Fishing Owl went in searc h of the truth and found all the answers Thank you for you contibution Len.

Len Olyott MSc (Rhodes)
Fisheries Scientist
Logbooks Section
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
Level 15 Forestry House, 160 Mary Street Brisbane QLD 4001
Telephone: 07 3227 6544 Facsimile 07 3227 8788
Mob: 0423771137
E-Mail: leonard.olyott@dpi.qld.gov.au


for this and more go to: www.dpi.qld.gov.au

 

Just Plain Weird Stories

Solpugid Eremobates sp.
Small Western U.S. species; much larger Near East species are called "camel spiders" but are not spiders.
(from a photo by Ken Davis)

 

Myth: In the deserts of the Near East, there are "camel spiders" which anaesthetize sleeping humans and eat large chunks of their flesh.

Fact: Most North Americans probably have not heard this legend (widespread in Arab countries) but it was disseminated to some degree by Gulf War veterans and also has been repeated by the uninformed narrator of at least one TV documentary.

"Camel spider" is a common name for solpugids, large non-spider arachnids found in desert regions. Solpugids have no venom, not even an anaesthetic, and are strictly predatory on smaller creatures.

 

General Fallacies

Myth: "Arachnid" is just a fancy name for spider.

Fact: There are eleven orders of arachnids. These include the scorpions; mites and ticks; harvestmen; pseudoscorpions; whipscorpions; solpugids; and spiders. It's like the relation of beetles with insects: beetles constitute one order of insects, the Coleoptera, but not all insects are beetles. Similarly, not all arachnids are spiders.

A spider, Missulena occatoria (Australia)

A whipscorpion, Abaliella dicranotarsalis

A scorpion, Charmus indicus (India)

A pseudoscorpion, Chelifer tuberculatus (Algeria)

Examples of 7 of the 11 orders of arachnids. Only one is a spider.
 

A whipspider, Paraphrynus mexicanus (Mexico, Arizona)

A solpugid, Eremohax sp. (Mexico, southwest USA)

A harvestman, Phalangium opilio (worldwide)