Tailess Scorpion?
Posted by Jamie Murray on August 20, 2006
Q: About 10-15 yrs ago, my family and I went camping at the Fort Spokane National Park. While we were at the campsite, we found a strange insect. It looked like a light color scorpion, but with no tail. It was about 2 inches long. It had 8 legs plus the 2 pinchers. It was long. What was it, we never heard of scorpions, esp tailess scorpions in this area.
State: Washington
A: Your "insect" wasn't an insect at all - I think you found something quite different. Sounds to me that you may have found a Windscorpion, also called Sunscorpion, in the order Solifuga. Check these animals out on the web and see if any photos look like your mystery animal. Windscorpions are voracious insect eaters and especially fast on the ground. They're not scorpions at all but in a seperate group of invertebrates. Hope this helps you figure out what you saw. Thanks for sharing.
John Wiessinger ( August 20, 2006)