Common whipspider
Damon variegatus
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsScorpions, ticks and friendsDeserts and dry places8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin
The common whipspider is a flat, wide creature with eight legs. Its front pair of legs are super long and thin, like whips. It waves them around to feel its way in the dark.
Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
Southern Africa, from Congo and Tanzania down to South Africa and Namibia
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It looks spooky, but it has no venom and does not hurt people.
What does it eat?
It hunts insects and other small creatures, and grabs them with its spiny front arms.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Common whipspider about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It walks on six legs and uses its two long whip legs as feelers.
2
Even though it is called a spider, it is not a true spider and cannot spin silk.
3
In 2005 scientists decided that the whipspiders living west of the Kalahari Desert are a different species.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common whipspider
?Is the common whipspider dangerous?
No. Whip spiders have no venom and are harmless to people.
?Is a whip spider a real spider?
No. It is a cousin of spiders, but it has no silk and no venom.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Damon variegatus
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Phrynichidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Amblypygi > Phrynichidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- African whip spider
Where the facts come from
- Damon variegatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Wynand Uys. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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