Arachnids & Myriapods Codexery

Uropygi

Arachnid order known for vinegar spray and whiplike tail.

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These animals can spray a combination of acetic acid and caprylic acid from glands near the rear of their abdomen, giving them the common name vinegaroon.[1] Whip scorpions, like their relatives in Schizomida and Amblypygi, walk on only six legs; the front pair are modified into sensory structures that function like antennae.[1] Each whip scorpion possesses large, scorpion-like pincers (pedipalps) that feature an extra, prominent spine on the tibia of each pincer.[1]

Scientific classification

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

Named by Thorell, 1883

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

Biology and range

They are carnivorous, nocturnal hunters feeding mostly on insects, millipedes, scorpions, and terrestrial isopods.[2] The body length of whip scorpions varies from 25 mm to 85 mm, though the majority of species do not exceed 30 mm in body length.[3] The opisthosoma is composed of 12 segments; the very first of these segments forms the pedicel.[4] A pygidium, formed by the fusion of the final three segments, terminates in a flagellum composed of 30 to 40 individual units.[4]

During reproduction, a male produces a spermatophore, places it on the ground, and the female subsequently retrieves it using her genital opening.[5] A female extrudes as many as 40 eggs, which are enclosed in a moisture-retaining, membranous broodsac that stays connected to her genital operculum.[6] These arachnids typically excavate burrows using their pedipalps and favor environments that are dark and moist.[2][7]

What the specialist sources record

The World Uropygi Catalog, as of 2026, accepted 133 recent species and 14 fossil species across 18 recent genera and 9 fossil genera.[8] GBIF holds 6,342 occurrence records for the order Uropygi as of 14 October 2026.[9] Tamerlan Thorell in 1883 was the first to employ the name Uropygi, a term derived from Ancient Greek meaning "tail rump".[10] The genus name Thelyphonus was introduced for whip scorpions by Pierre André Latreille in 1802; Latreille later interpreted the name as meaning "who kills".[11]

The extinct genus Mesoproctus, known from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation, attained a size comparable to that of the largest living whip scorpion species.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Weygoldt, Peter, "Evolution and systematics of the Chelicerata", 1–5 July 1996, p. 1–5, esp. p 5; Brusca, "Invertebrates", juristas.com.br, p. 505; Schmidt, Günther, "Giftige und gefährliche Spinnentiere", Westarp Wissenschaften, 1993 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schmidt, Günther, "Giftige und gefährliche Spinnentiere", Westarp Wissenschaften, 1993 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schmidt, Günther, "Giftige und gefährliche Spinnentiere", Westarp Wissenschaften, 1993; Dunlop, "The first whipspider (Arachnida: Amblypygi) and three new whipscorpions (Arachnida: Thelyphonida) from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil", Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Scien; Glenday, "Guinness World Records 2014", Guinness World Records Limited, 2013, p. 33 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biological Science Fundamentals and Systematics", EOLSS Publications, 10 Nov 2009, p. 225; Ax, Peter, "Multicellular Animals: The phylogenetic system of the metazoa", Springer, 2000, p. 103 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ruppert, "Invertebrate Zoology", Brooks/Cole, 2004, p. 569–570 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McMonigle, "Whipscorpions and Whipspiders: Culturing gentle monsters", Elytra and Antenna, November 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Giant whip scorpion Mastigoproctus giganteus giganteus", Featured Creatures (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. "World Uropygi Catalog", Natural History Museum, 2026. facts only, no text reused. wac.nmbe.ch
  9. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Uropygi (taxon key 1498). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harvey, "Catalogue of the Smaller Arachnid Orders of the World: Amblypygi, Uropygi, Schizomida, Palpigradi, Ricinulei and Solifugae", CSIRO Publishing, 2003; Aristotele, "De Anim. Hist.", 28 November 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Uropygi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harvey, "The neglected cousins: What do we know about the smaller arachnid orders?", Journal of Arachnology, 2002, p. 357–372; Latreille, "Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes", Dufart, 1802, p. 47; Latreille, "Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes", Dufart, 1804, p. 130–132 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Uropygi (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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