Pseudoscorpions - everywhere and nowhere.

You would think that these diminutive creatures would be easy to see, but they are very secretive in nature and keep to hidden places with low light and higher humidity.  They, like all arachnids, are carnivorous and will attack and consume smaller creatures than themselves.  The front legs, called pedipalps, are often longer than the organisms' bodies and are fascinating in their own right.

The pedipalps are unique in the animal kingdom.  They have sensitive hairs that help in the process of locating prey.  It turns out that these scorpion relatives have poor, or sometimes no, vision.  The tips of the pincers have openings to poison glands.  These glands excrete a toxic substance that helps dispatch a prey item of interest.  Another interesting thing about the pedipalps is that they allow the bearer to tenaciously grip onto other insects as a means of relocating themselves.  Their ride may be a beetle, wasp, or other winged forms of conveyance to facilitate their translocation.

Arachnids have a pair of biting jaws called chilicerea.  In spiders, the chilicerea sport a pair of fangs and are the tools of both poisoning and consumption of prey.  Pseudoscorpions also have chilicerea, but are equipped with silk glands that are used in mating, build retreats, and cover eggs.  The chilicerea themselves are important in prey consumption.

I have only ever seen one living pseudoscorpion, but I am quite assured that they are frequent inhabitants of home and garden.  They are small enough to be well hidden in the tinyest places and can further their invisibility by building silk structures for camouflage and ambush tactics.  They are helpful to humans in that they consume a variety of prey species including mites, lice, ants, tiny flies, springtails, and other small creatures.  If you happen to find one, enjoy its unique methods of movement and overall design, then release it where it will continue to serve you, being both everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Thanks for reading.  

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com