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CHARACTERISTICS: long body with wide cephalothorax and abdomen sub-divided into two parts: a wider anterior and a slender posterior ‘tail’ that ends in a spine that inoculates poison; body yellow-brownish from light to dark; four pairs of members, the anterior holding strong ‘tweezers’; straight rostrum; no antennae. DEVELOPMENT: direct. ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR: feeds on insects and other arachnids; active during the hottest months; hides under stones or cracks in soil and rocks; when menaced it raises the ‘tail’ and injects the poison which is intensely painful but rarely fatal.
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