We get a number of people asking about the Camel Spider and Iraqi Dinar. The only way these two topic are related is that they are in the desert.
This post covers the most common questions we receive concerning Camel Spiders plus some of the more popular urban myth about the spider.
Camel Spiders
Q: Where can you find camel spiders?
A: In the hot desert regions of the world.
Q: How many species of camel spiders or solpugids are there?
A: Over nine hundred.
Q: Are camel spiders venomous?
A: They do not possess any poison glands.
Q: Are "camel spiders" really spiders?
A: No, in fact they are really called solifigae, but they are still arachnids like spiders.
Q: What are other names for the camel spider?
A: Wind scorpian, sun spider and wind spider.
Q: Can a camel spider run up to 25 m.p.h?
A: No, they can't and they do bot scream when they run!
Q: What do camel spiders eat?
A: Smaller arthropods.
Q: How many species of camel spiders are there?
A: There are over 900 species, with 50 being found in southwestern US, and another 240 can be found in southern Africa.
Q: How big are camel spiders?
A: A camel spider can grow to be 5 inches in diameter with leg span.
You can see some very scary pictures and find out more information on these spiders by following this link on the Camel Spider.
I live in southern Idaho and am curious about how low of a temperature the camel spider can live in. Reading all of the articles about the spiders has been a real education.
At my house in Nrth Cal. we just found one of these things, Im glad to find out its not venomous. the one we found was about 1/2inch. Has anyone else seen one of these in California?
thanks..
It’s awesome to see camel spiders and scorpions fight each other in a ammo can. When we first go over here to Kuwait & Iraq back in 2003, that’s all we did; put camel spiders and scorpions in ammo cans and watch them tear each other apart.