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Brit tourist spots ‘half-spider, half-scorpion’ scurrying along floor – but it’s actually terrifying solifugid that can outrun some humans
A BRITISH tourist stumbled upon a "half-spider, half-scorpion" while on holiday in South Africa.
Pedro Goss, 18, filmed footage of the creepy creature on a mountain path – but had no idea what it was.
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The mystery specimen was scuttling around the Royal Natal National Park at high speed, and sported huge pincer-like mouthparts.
"I was on a five-hour walk around the park, on a dried mud path on a mountain about 2,500 feet above sea level, bordering the mountains on Lesotho," he said.
"I spotted it in the middle of the path moving very strangely, like nothing I've ever seen before.
"At first I thought it was a spider with scopion-like looks, but after a closer look I had no idea."
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It turns out that Pedro had actually come across a solifugid.
They're often described as being both a spider and a scorpion, but are actually neither.
"In English they are variously called camel spiders, wind spiders, wind scorpions and sun spiders, but they are neither," said Astri Leroy, chairman of South Africa's Spider Club.
"They are fierce little predators and quite aggressive with a high metabolic rate, so they have to eat a lot and if they can overpower another small creature they will do so.
"This means that their prey is not only insects and other invertebrates but also small vertebrates if they can catch them.
"They have no venom but they are fast and strong and have a four-part scissor-like set of jaws lined with sharp little teeth and two beady eyes."
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The largest solifugae grow to around six inches, including legs.
And they generally pose little risk to humans, having no venom glands or fangs to deliver toxins. However, they can deliver a painful bite.
But they can move particularly fast, with top speeds estimated at around 10mph.
That's nearly half as fast as human sprinters, and 4mph faster than a human jogging.
Pedro's clip shows the creature scuttling around and burrowing into the earth.
"The movement of it was rapid and it was changing direction very quickly," the Londoner said.
"At the time of when I saw it, it was digging a hole with its head, burrowing and shovelling dirt with its back legs out of the hole."
According to Astri, this happens when solifugae feel threatened by something.
It's possible that the presence of Pedro caused the response.
"I don't think they see too well, and those hairs are sensory organs which pick up airborne and other vibrations," Astri explained.
"In addition they have a further set of sensory organs under their fourth pair of legs called racquet organs or malleoli.
"If they are caught out in the open and feel threatened they will dig a hole in the ground at high speed and disappear."
But Pedro was happy with his discovery: "Being from London it was a great opportunity for me to see other forms of wildlife than the common English pigeon, a seagull nibbling a chip or a rat on the underground."
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