THE SOLPHUGID HOME PAGE

Ghastly, treacherous, voracious devourers of flesh in all its forms, these insatiable predators roam the desert at night, mercilessly engorging all that they encounter, leaving behind a trail of crushed and lifesless bodies. They have no poisons, nor do they need any. Their mandibles are the largest per unit body size in the animal kingdom. Armed with same efficient gas exchange mechanisms as insects, there is little limit to the energy they can expend in their voracious lifestyle, other than the limited capacity of any ecosystem to sustain the death and destruction they bring.

Look for them in warm deserts. At the Lighton Lab, we get our solphugids from Zzyzx in the East Mojave Desert.