Spiders, Harvestmen, and Scorpions are among the most feared creatures on the planet. Most people think of them as insects, but they are not! All three are classified as Arachnids, a class of joint-legged invertebrate arthropods. These animals differ from insects in many ways. While spiders, scorpions, and harvestmen are related and have various similarities, there are many significant differences between them.
Spiders have a pair of fangs, which they use to inject venom. Scorpions inject venom with their stinger located at the end of their flexible tail. Daddylonglegs or harvestmen, not to be confused with true spiders or daddylongleg spiders, do not produce venom at all! Scorpions also have a pair of pinchers which are modified pedipalps. Spiders posses spinnerets for silk production to build webs; harvestmen and scorpions don’t have such organ. Arachnids have two body segments, while insects have three segments; also, arachnids have eight legs, while insects only six. Scorpions and Spiders are among the most feared creatures on the planet.
Spiders
Yucatan Rust Rump Tarantula
Brachypelma epicureanum
Yucatan Rust Rump Tarantula, Brachypelma epicureanum, is a protected resident in Hacienda Chichen gardens and Maya Jungle Reserve, since this tarantula and other of the Brachypelma family are endangered due to their demand in pet stores.
Maya people call tarantula males “J’chi’ huo” (left) smaller than female in body size, it has reddish tone hair color while the female has a brighter orange tone. A spiders most powerful sense is touch and knows its surroundings feeling the vibrations of pray and danger sending flicks of hair into the air that cause irritation. This is a venomous creature, do not touch or hurt it.
Wolf spider
Pardosa milvina
Wolf spider, Pardosa milvina, family Lycosidae, is a common name for over 200 different spiders that are ground dwellers with long thick legs and got bodies low to the ground at all times. Wolf spiders typically have two large forward looking eyes in the middle of their face and a row of four smaller eyes bellow; generally they locate pray by sight and use their front legs to grab prey, then bite and crush it with jaw-like mouth parts called chelicerae.
At the Maya Jungle Reserve in Hacienda Chichen, most wolf spider hunt at daytime. Female wolf spider lays eggs in a large sac, nearly as large as her own body. She attaches the egg sac to her body, and carries it until the eggs hatch; then, the wolf spider tears open the egg sac and the newly hatched spiders climb onto her back where they remain for up to a week.
Harvestmen
Daddylonglegs or Harvestman
Hadrobunus grandis
Daddylonglegs, also called Harvestman, Hadrobunus grandis (formerly Leiobunum aurugineum). This gentle creature is related to the spiders, but it is not actually a spider; rather they belong to their own order Opiliones. It does not produce venom or silk webs, and it only has a pair of ocelli (eyes) rather than multiple eyes in a spider. Also, harvestmen don’t have fangs like spiders, but do still have chelicerae. You may find them in Hacienda Chichen hotel gardens and wildlife reserve or even in your room. They are totally harmless, so please if you see them near you, don’t kill them.
Scorpions
Do not touch! Scorpions are arachnids of the order Scorpionida. In Yucatan, the most common name in Spanish for all scoprions is “alacrán.” Scorpion’s exoskeleton is thick and durable, providing good protection from predators. Their body has two segments: the cephalothorax (where the head is located) and the metasoma (where the tail and bottom segments of the scorpion are located). All known Scorpion species possess poison or venom, those here give a deep painful sting like a mad wasp. Scorpions have a true “sexual or mating ritual” and females give birth to live offspring.
Florida Bark Scorpion
Centruroides gracilis
Florida Bark Scorpion, Centruroides gracilis, are endemic to Central and South America tropical forests, but has been introduced to various locations throughout the world. It goes by many common names, such as Slenderbrown scorpion and Brown Bark Scorpion. In Cuba, it is referred to as “Alacrán preito“. The Yucatecan Maya refer to this scorpion as “Si’naan.” In its natural tropical forest habitat, it can be found under barks and stones, but will also venture indoors and hide under debris or other hiding spots. This scorpion’s sting can be very painful, but is not as intense as that of some other scorpions. An interesting fact: an individual female scorpion can give birth to a wide variety of color form scorplings within the same litter!
Burrowing scorpion
Didymocentru nitidus
A member of the Neotropical burrowing scorpion genus Didymocentrus found in Yucatan, Didymocentru nitidus has little written about it. These burrowing scorpions have highly restricted distribution ranges, which makes them particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and presents an urgent conservation need. Other species of this genus described in Cuba are so habitat-specific that their conservation need has met the criteria for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for the category of Endangered.