88 SOLIFUGAE 



abdomen. It is more likely however that they are sense organs 

 analogous with the pectines of scorpions. The hairy body is divided 

 into two parts, a prosoma or cephalothorax and an opisthosoma or 

 abdomen which are segmented and united to one another without 

 a narrow pedicle as is found in spiders. The chelicerae are ex- 

 tremely well developed, forming two powerful pincers with which 

 the prey is destroyed. Sometimes these are as long as the entire 

 prosoma and they are possibly for their size the most formidable 

 jaws in the animal world. The pedipalps have the normal six seg- 

 ments and end, not in a claw, but in a peculiar suctorial organ to 

 be discussed below. 



The legs of the Solifugae are quite characteristic. The first pair 

 are long and rather feeble. They are not used for w^alking but are 

 carried stretched out in front and used as additional tactile organs, 

 a habit found also in the 'whip-scorpions'. The remaining legs are 

 true ambulatory limbs, those of the fourth pair, which are the 

 strongest of all, bearing the malleoli. There are only three of these 

 to each hind leg in the family Hexisopodidae, which includes the 

 curious, short-legged Chelypus spp. 



The size of the body varies from one to five centimetres in 

 length, and the larger species such as Galeodes arabs and G. ara- 

 fteoides whose formidable appearance is enhanced by their unusual 

 hairiness and bulk, can with their limbs span a width of five inches. 

 Most species are uniformly yellow or brown in colour while those 

 of the genera Rhagodes and Dinorhax are black. A few, however, 

 have a pattern of longitudinal black stripes on a yellow background, 

 or the reverse with occasional reddish tints. 



Predominantly inhabitants of hot, dry and desert areas, the 

 Solifugae are almost entirely confined to tropical and subtropical 

 regions. In Europe only six species occur and these are found in 

 warmer parts such as south-east Spain, Greece, the Balkans and 

 the vicinity of the Black Sea. Ten families are known to science of 

 which two, the Eremobatidae and Ammotrechidae, are uniquely 

 Nearctic, while the remainder are restricted to the Old World. 

 Of these the Ceromidae and Hexispodidae are found in Africa 

 south of the Equator, the Solpugidae in Africa and Iraq, while the 

 Daesiidae are distributed throughout Africa, Arabia, Asia Minor, 

 Persia and southern Europe. The Rhagodidae and Galeodidae are 



