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Pseudoscorpions Facts

Pseudoscorpions Facts
Pseudoscorpions, also known as "false scorpions", are members of the arachnid class. There are more than 3.000 species of pseudoscorpions that can be found all over the world (including the areas near the Arctic Circle). Pseudoscorpions are very old creatures. They exist on the planet at least 380 million years and they haven't changed much for all those years. Pseudoscorpions inhabit areas covered with decaying logs and leaf-litter, caves, beaches, nests of various birds and animals and crevices of rocks. Most species of pseudoscorpions are numerous and widespread in the wild. Tooth cave pseudoscorpion is endangered due to habitat loss (destruction of caves).
Interesting Pseudoscorpions Facts:
Pseudoscorpions can reach 0.08 to 0.31 inches in length.
Pseudoscorpions can be pale yellow, brownish green, dark brown or black colored.
Pseudoscorpions look like scorpions without long tail and stinger. They have pear-shaped body covered with tough plates, large pincers (called pedipalps) and four pairs of legs. Some species are blind, while other have two or four eyes.
Pseudoscorpions are wingless, but they can easily travel from one location to another attached to the fur and skin of various animals.
Pseudoscorpions are carnivores (meat-eaters). Their diet is based on caterpillars, ants, small flies and other types of soft-bodied insects.
Pseudoscorpions use enlarged pedipalps to inject venom and kill their victims. They use digestive juices to transform their prey into liquid meal.
Pseudoscorpions are beneficial for humans because they eliminate pests such as larvae of cloth moth, dust mites and booklice.
Pseudoscorpions were described for the first time by famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, more than 2.300 years ago.
Pseudoscorpions are not dangerous for humans. Their pincers are too weak to pierce human skin and deliver venom.
Pseudoscorpions use silk produced in the glands in their jaws to construct cocoons that are used for molting, mating and as a shelter from cold weather.
Pseudoscorpions have external fertilization. Males deposit packages of sperm called "spermatophores" on the solid ground. Females need to find and collect these packages to ensure successful fertilization of their eggs.
Some males dance (tap the ground with their legs and abdomen) to navigate females toward the spermatophores. Dancing ritual can last from 10 minutes to one hour.
Female lays 20 to 40 eggs inside the brood pouch on her abdomen. Pseudoscorpions show parental care. Female takes care of her babies few days after hatching. Pseudoscorpions undergo three larval stages before they reach adulthood. This process can last from 10 to 24 months.
Females of some species of pseudoscorpions are able to reproduce asexually, without males. This phenomenon, called parthenogenesis, results in the formation of new generation of females that are exact genetic copy of their mother.
Adult pseudoscorpions can survive 2 to 3 years in the wild.


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