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Sticker of Arizona tailless whip scorpion
Bug card No. 0146 of 4,939

Arizona tailless whip scorpion

Paraphrynus tokdod
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsScorpions, ticks and friendsDeserts and dry places8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Arizona tailless whip scorpion is a flat, long-legged hunter with spiny grabbing arms at the front. It is not a real scorpion and has no tail. It hides in rocky cracks and old burrows in the dry hills of Arizona.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
Southwestern United States, mostly Arizona, on rocky hillsides and in caves
Top speed
about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It has no venom, so just watch it from close by.
What does it eat?
It is a hunter. It grabs insects and other small creatures with its spiny front arms.
For real!Photo of Arizona tailless whip scorpion
Picture by Ken-ichi Ueda. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Scientists only gave it its own name in 2024. Before that it was thought to be the same as a close cousin.

2

Its young have black grabbing arms and keep them black when they grow up. Its cousins have red arms when young.

3

The upper parts of its walking legs are black and the lower parts are red.

4

In one cave in Arizona it is one of the top hunters, living among insects, spiders, scorpions and even mice.

5

It likes to live alone and can move soil around to fix up its hiding place.

you asked

Most asked questions about Arizona tailless whip scorpion

?Is the Arizona tailless whip scorpion dangerous?

No. It has no venom and is harmless to people.

?Where does the Arizona tailless whip scorpion live?

Mostly in Arizona, in cracks on rocky hillsides, in old animal burrows and in caves.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Paraphrynus tokdod
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Phrynidae
Classification
Arachnida > Amblypygi > Phrynidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Paraphrynus tokdod (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Ken-ichi Ueda. 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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More from the same group: Scorpions, ticks and friends

Also at home here: Deserts and dry places

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