The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote about predatory arthropods from the arachnid family. Today, false scorpions have more than 3,300 species and have settled throughout the planet. The largest populations live in the tropical zone, penetrating even isolated islands. Consider several types of false scorpions, their features, lifestyle and habits.
General characteristics of the order Pseudoscorpionida
Small-sized creatures lead a secretive lifestyle, and therefore it is difficult to investigate. The scientific world has not yet fully understood the essence of these arthropod inhabitants of the planet.
Among them, there are gallophiles who choose the sea and oceans as their place of residence. There are troglobionts hiding in caves, crevices of rocks, under scattering of stones.
Live from 2 to 3 years. Science qualifies them according to their habitat. For example, the genus Neobisium settle on mosses, moist soils, but Chernes live under fallen leaves, tree bark.
Diet
A predatory small animal whose diet is quite diverse. The basis of nutrition is made up of nails and other wingless small insects.
They easily hunt bugs, flies, mosquitoes, domestic parasites - bugs and ticks. With pleasure, the larvae of the above insects eat.
Some false scorpions easily eat annelids, caterpillars, other arthropods, ants. Synanthropic act as real orderlies at home, destroying domestic parasites.
Common species
Book False Scorpion / Chelifer cancroides
You can meet him on all continents of the planet, except Antarctica. Easily adapts to any habitat. It creeps into houses, outbuildings, office premises. You can meet them in museums and libraries, where they crawl into books.
In wildlife, they settle under the rotten bark of trees, hide under the leaves, inhabit abandoned bird nests. They feed on tails and hayed.
This is a small species, not growing more than 4 mm. It’s very difficult to spot them among books. For a person is completely safe. He just can't bite his skin with his little claws.
Ayyalonia dimentmani
This species is named after the Israeli naturalist Dr. Chanan Dimentman. But the name of the genus was given at the place of their first discovery - Ayalon Cave.
Small in size, only 2.5–2.8 mm. Pigmentation of the body is absent. During evolution, this cave species lost sight. But it is easy to navigate in the darkness of a limestone cave with the help of touch organs.
The first to be discovered and described was the celebrated arachnologist from Serbia, Bozidar Kurchin. In 2008, a new species was included in the qualification of false scorpions.
By the way, on our site most-beauty.ru there is fascinating material about the TOP 10 most poisonous scorpions of the planet.
Tartarocreagris texana
Author: Piershendrie / wikipedia.org
In the photo is a resident of the American state of Texas. They lived two caves in Travis County. American naturalists conducted research, claiming that the species is on the verge of complete extinction.
Belongs to the large family Neobisiidae. All life, nutrition, reproduction take place in complete darkness. Therefore, they are devoid of eyes, as well as tail and sting.
Claws are used to capture small arthropods, which form the basis of the diet. These are small arachnids not growing more than 4 mm.
Aldabrinus aldabrinus
Wikipedia reports that this species has chosen the habitat of the eastern coast of the African continent. They also moved to some islands of the Indian Ocean.
A large population lives in the Seychelles. They got their name from the Aldabra Atoll. They prefer to settle in open, dry areas.
They hunt insects. In times of danger, they prefer to flee, hiding under stones, fallen leaves, crevices in the soil.
Neobisium maritimum
A species that prefers a marine humid climate, and therefore settles on the sea coast. The habitat is quite extensive. Western regions of France, British Isles and Ireland. In this country they live only on the shores washed by Atlantic waters.
Hiding between stones and in crevices of high coastal cliffs. There are 2 pairs of eyes on the cephalothorax. The body is divided into 12 equal segments.
Body color has a rich dark brown color with an olive tint. The legs are greenish, but the claws are bright orange or brown. Adult arachnids do not exceed a length of 3.3 mm.
Garypus beauvoisi
A large pseudo-scorpion has chosen the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Grow up to 7 mm. It is easy to identify by its characteristic color.
The body is reddish in color, but the head, limbs and claws are red. Meeting with such a creature can be scary, because they strongly resemble scorpions. Note that poisonous scorpions are also common in this region of the planet.
Hiding in the deposits of algae, which are a large number on the coast. Adapted to endure the ebb and flow.
Garypus titanius
The largest of all false scorpions living on our planet. They grow to 1.2 cm. Endemic to the islands of Bodswainburn and Ascension.
Recent studies of the largest species of false scorpions have shown that they live on other islands of the Atlantic. But so far, these data are not confirmed.
Leads a secretive lifestyle, hides in crevices, under stones. Because of this lifestyle, it is very difficult to study his habits. Despite the formidable appearance, it does not pose a danger to humans.
Unusual habitats
Consider several species that select special places of residence.
Myrmochernes africanus
The inhabitant of the southern tip of Africa coexists easily with ants of the Camponotus species. South African false scorpion easily obtains a residence permit in an anthill.
Lophochernes mucr onatus
Another endemic to South Africa spends its entire life on tree branches.
Lasiochernes pilosus
Why bother, build a house, if you can settle in the burrows of moles. In these holes there are enough parasites and insects to provide themselves with food for life.
Cheiridium museorum
He settled throughout Europe, including in Russia. But most of them are in the UK. Prefers bookstores, libraries, antique shops. If you are a book lover, get ready to meet an unusual arachnid.
Interesting Facts
We conclude the story about false scorpions on most-beauty.ru with several scientific and funny facts about the unusual inhabitant of our amazing planet.
- One of the oldest living organisms on the planet. Fossil prints are found in sediments of the middle divon. It turns out that they already lived on the earth 370-380 million years ago.
- They got their complex, unusual scientific name because of pedipalps, which end with massive claws. Take a look, unless scorpions, only very small.
- Move with the help of four legs. Usually they move forward, but at times of danger they can flee sideways, like a crab.
- After fertilization, the female weaves a cocoon around herself, and then releases two strings and hangs herself in the middle of the cocoon.
- Almost all terrestrial species have one or two pairs of eyes, but the inhabitants of the caves and those who live underground have no organs of vision.
- Representatives of these species are oriented in space with the help of hairs on claws. They capture the slightest fluctuations in air and shudder on the surface of the earth.
- Aristotle, the first to describe these creatures, found them in the library among the scrolls. There false scorpions hunted for hayfields.
Summary
False scorpions in an apartment are becoming a real problem. Not that they are dangerous, just their appearance causes genuine fear. A natural question arises, how to get rid of unwanted neighbors. One of the most effective ways is the use of chemicals that affect their nervous system, paralyze, as a result of which false scorpions die.
On this our article came to an end. So you found out who the false scorpions are. The editors of most-beauty.ru asks you to write in the comments about whether you have met these amazing animals.