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Solifugae
With a body length of about 1¼", this is a fairly impressive arachnid, and the pincers at the front end look like they could inflict a bit of damage. The head is a deep amber, with black eyes, and the body is brown with short white stripes across each body segment. The legs have alternating bands of cream and brown. The two hindmost of the eight legs are largest, diminishing in size to a weak pair at the front, then the huge pedipalps/feelers at the front end equal the size of the hindmost legs.
I found this solpugid in the forest floor litter when I was doing some landscaping outside my house in the subtropical rainforest of Belize. While most solpugids (also called solifugids, wind scorpions, camel spiders and sun spiders) live in arid areas, this is a rainforest.
Ammotrechidae would be my guess, but without examining its chelicerae I can't be sure. There are only two families of solpugids in North and Central America. I'm not sure if they are both here in Belize.
Spotted on Apr 26, 2016
Submitted on Jan 26, 2017
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