Vinegaroon

“A scary-looking, but a harmless, cousin of the spider.”

With 120 species in 16 genera, the vinegaroon, or whip scorpion is found in the warmer places of the world save Australia and Europe.

Admittedly, it is not everyone’s favorite animal and, if scaled up to be about as big as a horse, would be a great model for a rampaging alien life form in a horror movie.

But the whip scorpion is docile, at least with humans, and an efficient destroyer of bugs that really do cause problems. Read on for more information about this animal.

Five Incredible Vinegaroon Facts!

Here are some interesting things to know about the Vinegaroon, otherwise known as the Whip Scorpion:

• The spray the vinegaroon uses to defend itself is made up of acetic and caprylic acid. The acetic acid gives the spray a vinegary smell and gives the animal its name.
• Some people do keep giant vinegaroons as pets, for they are nonvenomous and peaceful.
• Vinegaroons have eight eyes, but their eyesight is bad.
• The whip scorpion is not an insect. It is an arachnid that is related to spiders and, distantly, to scorpions.
• Female vinegaroons provide considerable maternal care. After mating, they retreat to a hidden location where they are gravid for some months. Later, they lay 30 to 40 eggs which they brood for another two months. When the nymphs hatch, they ride on the mother’s back until they’re about a month old and independent. The mother does not eat the whole time.

Evolution and Origins

Arachnids known as vinegaroons also referred to as whip scorpions, are believed to have evolved around 350 million years ago in the warm, humid environments of the Carboniferous period. Many species of vinegaroons are still present in these places today.

These arachnids can be observed in arid habitats such as deserts in the southwestern United States and Mexico, as well as in grasslands and scrublands in Florida, and they have also been found at elevations of up to 6,000 meters in dry mountainous areas.

Even though vinegaroons have a body shape similar to scorpions, with a flattened, elongated abdomen and spiny, claw-like pedipalps (the pincer-like appendages in front of their face), they are not closely related to scorpions.

Species, Types, and Scientific Names

Vinegaroons belong to the Thelyphonida order and the Thelyphonidae family. Thelyphonida is Greek and probably means “female creature who murders.” It’s true that vinegaroons certainly murder their prey, but it’s not just the females who do so. They are also classified as uropygids, as uropygid is Ancient Greek for “tail rump.” This describes the thin and flexible tail of the animal.

There are 16 genera. They are:

• Etienneus
• Ginosigma
• Glyptogluteus
• Hypoctonus
• Labochirus
• Mastigoproctus
• Mayacentrum
• Mimoscorpius
• Ravilops
• Sheylayongium
• Thelyphonellus
• Thelyphonoides
• Thelyphonus
• Typopeltis
• Uroproctus
• Valeriophonus

The latest of these, Sheylayongium was described in 2018. The one species, Sheylayongium pelegrini is a whip scorpion native to the Antilles. There are 120 species of vinegaroon, including the giant vinegaroon, whose scientific name is Mastigoproctus giganteus. It is the only whip scorpion found in the United States.

Vinegaroon vs. Scorpion

It is understandable if a person mistakes a whip scorpion for a regular scorpion. They do look somewhat alike. The most important difference is that the scorpion has a curved, segmented tail with a stinger at the end. In some cases that stinger can deliver dangerous venom.

Though the vinegaroon has a whiplike tail, it does not have a stinger. The vinegaroon is not at all venomous even though it famously sprays acid that smells of vinegar, and the larger ones can bite and pinch with their pedipalps.

Appearance

A whip scorpion is a black or brown creature between 1 and 3 inches long. Starting at the beginning, there are the pedipalps, which have evolved into large claws. The pedipalps of the male vinegaroon are larger than those of the female and in the giant vinegaroon, each pedipalp sports a movable finger.

The first pair of front legs have been modified into sense organs, and the other six legs are used for walking and running. These running legs are made up of a trochanter, a femur, a patella, a tibia, and a tarsus. Each tarsus ends in two claws.

Unlike a true bug, the whip scorpion’s body is divided into two instead of three parts. There’s the prosoma, which encompasses the animal’s head and the middle of its body, and the opisthosoma, which is the abdomen. Both sections are oval-shaped and flat.

The whip scorpion has two eyes at the front of the head and three eyes on each side. The tail is long and flexible, and the acid spraying gland is found at the base of it.

Habitat

Vinegaroons are found in the warmer parts of Asia, South and Central America, and the United States. To look for one, look under rocks, fallen trees, rotting piles of wood, or maybe compost piles. M. giganteus is sometimes found in the deserts of the American southwest, though it burrows underground if it becomes too hot and dry. Vinegaroons can also be found hiding in crawlspaces or anywhere that is dark, warm, and damp.

Diet

Vinegaroons are carnivores and hunt for prey at night. Because they use their front legs and their tails as sense organs, they do not need to have good eyesight. When they find prey they grab it in their pedipalps and bring it to their jaws to eat it. Prey includes worms, slugs, cockroaches, crickets, termites and other insects, smaller whip scorpions, and spiders.