Arachnids & Myriapods Codexery

Solifugae

Arachnids with large chelicerae, no venom, and no silk.

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Common names for the arachnid order Solifugae include sun spiders, camel spiders, and wind scorpions.[1] The Latin roots "sol" (sun) and "fugere" (to flee) combine to give the order its name, meaning "those that flee from the sun."[2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumArthropoda
  3. SubphylumChelicerata
  4. ClassArachnida
  5. OrderSolifugae

Named by Sundevall, 1833

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Solifugae (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Field
Arachnology
Maximum length
12–15 cm (5–6 in) including legs; body length up to 7 cm (3 in)

Facts from the source article.

Biology and range

Solifuges have a body plan with two main tagmata: a prosoma and a 10-segmented abdomen.[1] Each chelicera has two articles forming a powerful pincer, capable of shearing hair or cutting through skin and thin bones.[3] Solifuges lack venom glands and have no venom-delivery apparatus.[4] They possess a well-developed tracheal system and lack book lungs.[5]

Solifuges are carnivorous generalists, feeding on insects, other arachnids, and small vertebrates.[6] They hunt using stalking, chasing, and ambushing strategies.[6] A pair of notably large chelicerae, which in numerous species exceed the prosoma in length, represents their most characteristic trait.[3] Neither Australia nor Madagascar have any solifuge populations.[1]

A burrow is where females deposit between 50 and 200 eggs, and certain species will protect these eggs until they hatch.[7]

What the specialist sources record

The biodiversityexplorer account lists Afrikaans common names including haarskeerders and baardskeerders, which refer to myths that these animals cut hair.[8] The same source notes these terms originate from the animals' behavior of using shed hair.[8] The GBIF database holds 17,437 occurrence records for this taxon as of October 2026.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Larson, "Solifugae (solifuges, solifugids, solpugids)", www.biodiversityexplorer.info; Larson, "Solifugae (solifuges, solifugids, solpugids)", www.biodiversityexplorer.info; Larson, "Solifugae (solifuges, solifugids, solpugids)", www.biodiversityexplorer.info (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown, Lesley, "The New shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles", Clarendon Press, 1993; Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998; Barnes, Robert D., "Invertebrate Zoology", Holt-Saunders International, 1982, p. 613–614; Holm, "Goggo Guide: The arthropods of southern Africa", LAPA Publishers, 2010; Schimdt, "Giftige und gefährliche Spinnentiere", Westarp Wissenschaften, 1993 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Klann, "Histology and Ultrastructure of Solifuges: Comparative Studies of Organ Systems of Solifuges (Arachnida, Solifugae) with Special Focus on Functional Analyses and Phylogenetic Interpretations", Universität Greifsw (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ax, "Multicellular Animals: The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa", Springer, 2000, p. 125–126 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998; Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998; Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998; Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Solifugae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schimdt, "Giftige und gefährliche Spinnentiere", Westarp Wissenschaften, 1993; Fred Punzo, "The Biology of Camel-Spiders", Springer, 1998 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Larson, "Solifugae (solifuges, solifugids, solpugids)", www.biodiversityexplorer.info. facts only, no text reused. biodiversityexplorer.info
  9. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Solifugae (taxon key 756). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Solifugae (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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