Arachnophobes beware!

Or don't. Depends whether your arachnophobia applies to all orders of class Arachnida, or just spiders (order Araneae). Because here, we are going to learn about their not-so-distant relatives, perhaps equally unsightly to some.

Behold the vinegaroon (order Thelyphonida), a half-blind, nocturnal, cockroach-eating critter, also known as a whip scorpion, given its remote resemblance of a true scorpion. To be sure though, vinegaroons have neither the stinging tail of a scorpion, nor a venomous bite of a spider. Instead they possess fancy acid-spraying cannon glands called pygidial glands, squirting an acidic substance on their unsuspecting prey. The liquid, allomone, is a combination of water, caprilic and acetic acid, with the latter giving off a familiar vinegar smell, hence the name of this lovable monster.

Female vinegaroon are also well-known for their thorough maternal care for their newly fertilized eggs as well as hatched off-springs. Not only do they refrain from eating for the whole period, hiding in their underground burrow, they also attach the broodsac to their abdomen which they then hold arched for several months so that the sac doesn't touch the ground at all! After the eggs hatch, the post-embryo vinagaroons latch onto the mother's back with their special sucker-like organs for another month until their first molt. And unlike other arachnids, the mother vinegaroon does not even once think about eating some of the babies to regain her lost fat supplies!

Mother of the month award would be well deserved.

Common name:	Vinegaroon or whip scorpion
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Thelyphonida
Scientific reading: