Tanzanian Giant Whip Spider

The Tanzanian giant whip spider (Damon diadema) is a large amblypygid of East African forests with whip-like front legs that are used as antennae. It is harmless to people, and neither a spider nor a scorpion.

🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Tanzanian Giant Whip Spider in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Ecdysozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.

The first pair of legs is extremely long and thin and is held out like feelers. They carry thousands of sensors for smell, touch and vibration, and the animal walks on the remaining six legs. Whip spiders navigate in the dark and can return to a home shelter.

Spiny pedipalps snatch insects, but the animal has no venom and no silk. Males and females communicate with the whips, and in some species courtship involves tapping and a display.

Females carry eggs in a sac under the abdomen, and after the young hatch they climb onto her body. The mother cares for them through their early molts.

• Giant Camel Spider — another arachnid that is not a spider
• Black Widow Spider — a true spider