What’s called a Spider and a Scorpion, but is actually neither?

Did my first night shoot in a long while and discovered a unique night creature called the Whip Spider, also known as a Tailless Whip Scorpion (Amblypygi). It is neither a true spider nor a true scorpion, but a distinct order of the arachnid, having 2 extremely thin legs in front, modified into sensory feelers and 6 running legs with a stronger build. More interestingly, this species, unlike other arachnids, exhibits social behavior — the mothers caressed their young, and family members tend to gather together. See this article for the experiment conducted.

#1 This Tailless Whip Scorpion (Amblypygi) was spotted on the ground. The eyes are so small that they looked like 1 single eye, like an alien.

#2 Found another larger one on a tree bark

#4 Bird Dropping Spider (Cyrtarachne). We spotted a number of them along the trail.

#5 The spider looks like a blob of bird dropping, and the liquid within swirls very slowly. Took 2 shots to illustrate this.

#6 Side view of the Bird Dropping Spider

#7 Female Crab Spider welcomes us with open arms (legs)

#8 Looks like a destroyed web

#9 Last shot of the crab spider

#10 A pair of sleeping beauties. Gram Blues, thanks to Khew for the ID 🙂

#11 My favorite shot of a handsome Longhorn Beetle

#12 Mosquitoe??

#13 Jumping Spider, my flash diffuser shapes becomes very visible in this pic

#14 Emperor Cat (no thats not the real name)

#15 Side view of the caterpillar

The complete album can be viewed here.

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