Amblipigios: What are, characteristics and types

Amblipos are Arachnid invertebrate animals. Although they are close relatives of spiders, They are not spiders And neither insectsas usually classified as arachnids. They are one of the most primitive representatives of the arachnid group, but it is also one of the least studied groups compared to other arachnids.

Reviewing the Taxonomy of amblipiges or spiders whip We can better understand the classification of these invertebrates. Belong to:

• Arthropoda Filo.
• Chelicerata subfilus.
• Arachinda class.
• Order Amblypygi, where its common name comes from that in Greek means “weak legs.”

For the relationship they have with spiders, a doubt arises, do amblipiges bite? The truth is that they lack poison glands, and they don’t have slicing -like structures, so They are not poisonous and do not bite. Therefore, the mouth of the amblipigio is not something that must be feared. In fact, for not having a defense system like other arachnids, they are very shy and tend to flee in the face of threats, preferring to hide under the leaf litter or in any hiding place available. Now, it is important to know that they are predators with structures for these purposes, which means that they can cause skin damage if they get to press with their pedipalpos or quelíberos although, again, this is not frequent and will only resort to this if they are directly bothers them.

A curiosity about these strange animals is that one appears in the movie of Harry Potter and the fire chaliceso maybe you had seen it and you didn’t know it was an animal that really exists.

We advise you to read these other posts about what arthropods are: characteristics, classification and examples and arachnids: characteristics, types and examples.

• They have eight legsthat’s why they are classified as arachnids, but not all serve to move. The most distinctive feature of the ampigios is that The first pair of legs is modified for tactile purposes And not to move. These front legs are long similar to Antennas or whipsprovided with many extremely adapted receptors with which both chemical substances and movements can detect. In addition, they have very large neurons that transport the information to the nervous system so that they can respond to the stimuli abroad.
• To move they have only three pairs of locomotive legs, Six locomotive legs in total. These are articulated to be able to have flexibility and good mobility.
• They also stand out in these whip spiders also some appendages that look like tweezers but they are not. They are the pedipalpos that are long and coated with thornswhich serve to capture their prey when folding the pedipalpos, leaving the dam trapped and perforated by the long and sharp thorns.
• They have strong chelickers located near the mouth They serve to bite food into small food before engulfing them.
• Your food is other arthropods of different groups, such as other arachnids or termites, for example.
• The body is Width and flattened.
• They go through processes of Mud of exoskeleton to which its growth is determined. Here you can discover the animals with exoskeleton.
• In the brain they have structures called Corpora Pedunculata that are related to memory, so we can say that amblipiges have learning capacity to escape, capture dams and orient.
• They live in tropical areas hidden between rocks, leaves and branches during the day to Go out at night. They remain in wet areas.
• They have stridulative organs with which they emit sounds to communicate.
• They are generally lonelytogether only when it is a reproduction season although there may be certain species that are social.
• They are usually dark colornormally black to brown, with reddish legs. Some others are light colors like white and green.

Exist 130 speciesdivided into 10 families. Next, we present some of the species so that you know how the types of amblipiges can be differentiated.

• Giant Amblipigio (Damon Diadema): It is originally from Africa. His body measures 3 centimeters, but the sensory legs that correspond to the first pair are particularly long: they measure 20 centimeters long. It is one of the few social ambities and that meets in communities.
• Phrynus marginemaculatus: Live in Caribbean Islands, with a body of 2 centimeters and legs 10 centimeters long. It is another of the social ambitious.
• Acanthophrynus coronatus: It is located in the humid tropical forests of Mexico. It is one of the most used species as a pet. They live on trees and rarely go down to the ground.
• They paracharon Caecus: It is characterized by living in termites nests, with the adaptations that imply underground habits such as the lack of eyes and pigmentation. It is located west of Africa.
• Paraphrynus Carolynae: It is found in Mexico, and is one of the few amblipiges that prefer a dry and arid environment.
• Weygoldtina spp.: Now that we review the existing vinagrillos, it is appropriate to mention a genre that is already extinct. He is known for his fossil record from Canada and England. He measured 1.7 centimeters long.

Now that you know better what ambigigities are, we recommend you know more about invertebrate animals: examples and characteristics reading this other ecology article.

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