Sand Spiders in Iraq

Geez! Now I know why my freind nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw this thing.

http://fuz1on.shackspace.com/SPIDERS.jpg

thankfully it's harmless, but it gives me the shudders.

http://home.global.co.za/~quagga/solpugid.htm

apparently the thing is called a Solfugid....and not an actual spider

Not sure "harmless" is accurate. It may not have venom, but with jaws like that it could give a nasty bite.:eek:

Ugly little spud, isn't it.

Hmm, I think you'd not get me in the same room as one of those, unless it was safelly behind glass :)

I wonder if it's one of those Klingon Spiders.. the type that emply a cloaking device to magically appear.. becuase it definatelly would give you a fright if you saw one of those crawling up your leg!

*shudders*

I'd pull out a very large stick or a knife to deal with the problem.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Phantom
Ugly little spud, isn't it.

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I think it can hear you Phantom.

Its... Looking... at me.

Sigh

You sure that it's not a case of someone holding a small "spider" close to the camera lense by any chance? Even an ant hanging right by the camera lense would look huge.

Not wishing to piss on anyone's parade.

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg376.html

They're about 5-6 cms long.

In fact one of the links on the first post says they average 25-75mm in length.

Of course could it be the resultant mutation caused on local wildlife by Saddam's WMD research....??

Whatever the size, it's one UGLY little SOB

Sundowner

Is there such a thing as a good looking arachnid/insect/pain-in-the-arse bug?

Quote:

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Originally posted by JonA
Is there such a thing as a good looking arachnid/insect/pain-in-the-arse bug?

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You have a very good point :D

Sundowner

Hmm, well whatever they are, they look much bigger than 5cm!

if you have a camera that close to a tiny object, then you get massive depth of field distortions if you try and use some false perspective... and because they are hairy critters it would be DAMN hard to cut them out and enlarge them in photoshop!

based on that first photo I'd have to say they wre over 12 CM wide, due to the closeness to that mans sleve apeture (which will be at least that large)

There is a certain ammount of distortion and flase perspective on that image, and it looks to me like there's two of them (caught inflagrante by the looks of things :)) - but still - they are HUGE!

I don't know about all insects being ugly.. I think that some are quite attractive - thinking Butterflies, bees, those little beatles with irridescent shells - I even quite like the backs of garden spiders - they look like tiny persian rugs :)

Actually, if you scroll to the right, you can see the shirtcuff and part of the hand of the guy holding whatever it is they're clinging to... Scaling from the hand, which is the same distance from the camera, it looks like the little critters are indeed 5-6cm long. The camera used seems to have pretty good depth of field, and the legs in the background are only slightly out of focus.

hehe well just to be picky here Owen - measure you're wrist from one side to the other - mine's about 6 Cm wide. - Then take into consideration that the sleve of that guys shirt / coat is sticking out as wide (or slightly wider than) as his wrist is wide...

The spider as you say is about as wide as his cuff, which has to be at least 12 cm wide - and they are in approximatelly the same depth relative to each other, hence I reakoned on about 12 cm wide - but it's just my opinion, others might read that in a different way (and by that I mean it's leg span - the body and thorax are perhaps only 7-8 cm long)

*shudders*

Quote:

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Originally posted by Phantom
....
Ugly little spud, isn't it.

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"Little?" - Worf

Have you guys ever seen a "Dinner Plate" Tarantula? They certainly are proof that insects/spiders can be that big. Also, just learned about a Water bug from the Amazon River area, the thing can be up to 2 feet in length and feeds on Piranaha.

Though it is hard to tell exactly what the perspective is with the photo.