🐙 Cell & Organismal Biology
Variegated Whip Spider
The variegated whip spider (Damon variegatus) is a mottled-brown whip spider of the savannas and woodlands of southern and eastern Africa. It lives under bark and in cracks.
The variegated whip spider (Damon variegatus) is a mottled-brown whip spider of the savannas and woodlands of southern and eastern Africa. It lives under bark and in cracks.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Variegated 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.
Hunting in the Dark
The animal ambushes insects with its spiny pedipalps while using its long, sensory whip legs to find them. It is nocturnal and spends days in hiding.
Mothers and Young
Females carry eggs in a sac under the abdomen, and the young cling to her back after hatching. See Tanzanian Giant Whip Spider.
Members of an Old Order
Amblypygids appear in the fossil record from the Carboniferous and have changed little since. See Florida Whip Spider.
Variegated Whip Spider at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Damon variegatus |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Arachnida |
| Order | Amblypygi |
| Family | Phrynichidae |
| Field Guide group | Ecdysozoa: Arachnida (Spiders, Scorpions & Allies) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Mottled gray-brown, flat-bodied arachnid that scuttles sideways like a crab, sweeping long antenna-like front legs to sense prey in rock crevices. |
| Order | Amblypygi |
| Range | Southern and eastern Africa |
See Also
- Tanzanian Giant Whip Spider — a close relative
- Florida Whip Spider — an American whip spider
🧬 Support Open Science
Explore interactive science games on LowKey Games or browse scientific apparel & accessories in the CRV Science Shop.
💡
Spot an inaccuracy or have primary literature to expand this article?
Submit a citation or revision note using your shared CRV Science / LowKey Games profile ID.