Whip Scorpion

This is one of the animals that you will sometimes find in books. Often it is the same picture that is used from book to book or article to article. They are so rare in Dominican amber that you will just not see that many pictures of them. The whip scorpion is one of the rarest of all finds.

Tail-less whip scorpions or amblypigids are very efficient predators. They remain hidden under leaves, bark and other debris for most of the day. They come out at night to feed. Their chelicerae are modified into strong, spine-armored grasping organs that the hapless arthropods would find nearly inescapable. Their front pair of legs, in contrast, are long and slender, obviously modified

 

 

for sensory functions. Lacking any type of tail appendage, these formidable creatures are not frequently encountered. The females carry their eggs in a sac attached to the undersurface of the abdomen by a few silken threads.

The abdomen has what "looks like" an egg sac. This is not an egg sac but probably an extrusion that is made by gasses from the body and excretion of uric acids and other metabolites.

Such an unbelievably rare item, this whip scorpion. Look carefully because it is the only one you will ever see for sale.

Here is a scanned image with a ruler next to it. You can click on the above images it see a larger picture.

This rare fossil is about 24 million years old and was found at the La Cumbre mine NE or Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Amblypygi..........Genus Phrynus species resinae............... Schawaller 1979
The size is about 1 inch x .5 inches x .5 inches

 

The price of this unbelievably rare specimen is $19,000.

$19,000