Pseudoscorpion

Description:

They have two very long pedipalps with palpal chelae (pincers) which strongly resemble the pincers found on a scorpion. The pedipalps generally consist of an immobile "hand" and "finger", with a separate movable finger controlled by an adductor muscle. A venom gland and duct are usually located in the mobile finger; the venom is used to capture and immobilize the pseudoscorpion's prey. During digestion, pseudoscorpions pour a mildly corrosive fluid over the prey, then ingest the liquefied remains.

Habitat:

Size: 6 mm. Spotted on the wall. Attracted to artificial lighting.

Notes:

Pseudoscorpions spin silk from a gland in their jaws to make disk-shaped cocoons for mating, molting, or waiting out cold weather. However, they do not have book lungs as most of their closest relatives, the spiders, do. They breathe through spiracles, a trait they share with the insects. Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans since they prey on clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, booklice, ants, mites, and small flies. They are tiny and inoffensive, and are rarely seen due to their size. They enter homes by "riding along" attached to insects (known as phoresy), the insects employed are necessarily larger than the pseudoscorpion, or they are brought in with firewood. A Pseudoscorpion, also known as a False Scorpion or Book Scorpion, is an arachnid belonging to the order Pseudoscorpionida, also known as Pseudoscorpiones or Chelonethida.