Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Giant vine­ga­roons or giant whip scor­pi­ons (Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus) are na­tive to the Nearc­tic re­gion. They are found in the south­west­ern United States, in­clud­ing New Mex­ico, Ari­zona, Texas, and areas just to the north. They range south into much of Mex­ico, and are also found in Florida. (Car­rel and Britt, 2009; Punzo, 2005; Punzo, 2006)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Giant vine­ga­roons typ­i­cally live in arid, desert habi­tats in the south­west, and scrub forests and grass­lands in Florida. They have also been found in dry moun­tain­ous areas, as high as about 6,000 m. They can be found tak­ing shel­ter be­neath plant de­bris, in rock crevices, or in bur­rows dug by other an­i­mals or them­selves. (Eis­ner, et al., 1961; Hem­bree, 2013; Kern Jr. and Mitchell, 2011; Punzo, 2005; Punzo, 2006)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune
• savanna or grassland
• scrub forest
• mountains

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural

• Range elevation

  6000 (high) m

  19685.04 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Giant vine­ga­roons re­sem­ble scor­pi­ons in many as­pects, but are ac­tu­ally more closely re­lated to spi­ders. Their pedi­palps are mod­i­fied into two large claws, and they have two front legs that are held aloft, and six legs that are used for lo­co­mo­tion. They have a thin, flex­i­ble tail ex­tend­ing from the end of their ab­domen, giv­ing them the com­mon name 'whip scor­pi­ons'. Their body is di­vided into two parts, the cephalotho­rax (pro­soma) and the ab­domen (op­itho­soma). Both sec­tions are flat and oval-shaped. Their walk­ing legs have 7 seg­ments, and their tarsi have 3 parts, end­ing in 2 claws. There is one pair of eyes lo­cated on the front of their head, while there are 3 more eyes on each side of their head. Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus is one of the largest species of vine­ga­roons, grow­ing to lengths of 40 to 60 mm, not in­clud­ing the tail. The body is typ­i­cally black, with some sec­tions or ap­pendages brown or red­dish-brown. Males have larger pedi­palps and a mov­able fin­ger on the palps. Nymphs re­sem­ble adults, though they lack sec­ondary sex­ual char­ac­ter­is­tics, such as spines on the pal­pal trochanter, and the mov­able fin­ger on the male pedi­palps. Nymphal males and fe­males have iden­ti­cal claws. (Hem­bree, 2013; Punzo, 2005; Schmerge, et al., 2013; Wey­goldt, 1970; Wey­goldt, 1971)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• ornamentation

• Range length

  40 to 60 mm

  1.57 to 2.36 in

De­vel­op­ment

Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus is hemimetabolous. Once eggs hatch, the nymphs climb aboard the back of the fe­male, and re­main there for about a month, until their first molt. After their first molt, the nymphs dis­perse. Giant vine­ga­roons have 4 nymphal stages, with 4 molts, be­fore reach­ing adult­hood. Molts occur about once a year, usu­ally dur­ing the sum­mer. Prepar­ing to molt can take months, dur­ing which, vine­ga­roons con­struct a molt­ing cham­ber they do not leave, not even to feed. The op­itho­soma vis­i­bly in­flates, until the skin splits, and the newly molted in­star emerges from the skin. The new in­star is white, and stays white for 2 or 3 days. Com­plete pig­men­ta­tion and scle­ro­ti­za­tion takes 3 to 4 weeks. After the fourth and final molt, the adult is sex­u­ally ma­ture, with sec­ondary sex­ual char­ac­ter­is­tics that were not pre­sent in the nymphal stages. (Wey­goldt, 1970; Wey­goldt, 1971)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Mat­ing typ­i­cally takes place at night, dur­ing the fall sea­son for Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus. To ini­ti­ate mat­ing, the fe­male first cau­tiously ap­proaches the male. If the fe­male does not want to mate, pairs often get into fights, where they push against each other with their pedi­palps, until both back away from each other and rock back and forth. Typ­i­cally, the male is the first to leave. How­ever, if the fe­male is will­ing, the male ag­gres­sively grabs at the fe­male with his palps, strug­gling with her, until he is able to grab onto her first pair of legs, the an­ten­ni­form legs used for sen­sory pur­poses. He then grabs the tips of her an­ten­ni­form legs with his che­licerae. The male walks back­wards, drag­ging the fe­male with him. After sev­eral steps, he stops, and moves to­wards her, stroking her an­ten­ni­form legs and pedi­palps with his pedi­palps. In re­sponse, the fe­male moves back­wards, open­ing her pedi­palps. He moves to­wards her again, touch­ing her and the sur­round­ing area with his an­ten­ni­form legs. The fe­male con­tin­ues to move back­wards until the male also be­gins to move back­wards in the other di­rec­tion, pulling her to­wards him and be­gin­ning the se­ries of mo­tions all over again. This courtship "dance" may con­tinue for sev­eral hours, until the male even­tu­ally re­leases the fe­male's an­ten­ni­form legs with his pedi­palps, but not his che­licerae. He turns so they are both fac­ing the same di­rec­tion, and the fe­male grasps the male's ab­domen with her pedi­palps. The male moves for­ward, se­cret­ing the sper­matophore on the ground as he does so. The sper­matophore takes 2 or more hours to form, dur­ing which the pair re­mains mo­tion­less. When it is fully formed, the male pulls the fe­male for­ward to­wards the sper­matophore. The gono­pore of the fe­male takes up the sperm car­rier from the sper­matophore, and the pair re­leases each other. The male then turns around, and climbs par­tially over the fe­male so he can use his pal­pal chelae to ma­nip­u­late the sperm car­ri­ers and her gono­pore, push­ing the sperm car­ri­ers in­side her. The male may do this ma­nip­u­la­tion for two hours or more. Even­tu­ally the pair sep­a­rates. (Kern Jr. and Mitchell, 2011; Wey­goldt, 1970)

After mat­ing, fe­males carry the fer­til­ized eggs in­ter­nally for a few months. They then lay the eggs in a fluid filled sac, with each sac con­tain­ing 30 to 40 eggs. The eggs are pro­tected from dessi­ca­tion by a moist mem­brane. The sac is car­ried by the fe­male, held from her ab­domen. Fe­males re­main in their bur­row dur­ing this process for an ad­di­tional two months, stay­ing mo­tion­less and hold­ing her ab­domen and the egg sac off the ground while the eggs de­velop. Fi­nally, the eggs hatch and climb aboard the fe­male's back, re­main­ing there about a month until their first molt. By this time, the fe­male is usu­ally so weak and starved that she falls into a state of lethargy, and even­tu­ally dies. Be­cause of this, fe­males only pro­duce one egg sac in their lives. Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus reaches sex­ual ma­tu­rity in 3 to 4 years. (Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, 1968; Hem­bree, 2013; Kern Jr. and Mitchell, 2011)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Females breed only once during their lives.

• Breeding season

  Giant vinegaroons mate in the fall.

• Range number of offspring

  30 to 40

• Average time to independence

  1 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  3 to 4 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 to 4 years

Fe­males of Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus ex­hibit sig­nif­i­cant parental care. They pro­vide pro­vi­sion­ing in the eggs, and carry the eggs in­ter­nally for sev­eral weeks after fer­til­iza­tion. They also carry the eggs in an egg sac held from the ab­domen for two months. After the eggs hatch, the young off­spring climb onto the back of the fe­male and stay there until the first molt. Dur­ing this time, the fe­male does not leave her bur­row to feed. Her in­vest­ment in their care and pro­tec­tion is so great that by the time the young dis­perse, she is so weak and starved that she dies shortly there­after. (Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, 1968; Kern Jr. and Mitchell, 2011; Punzo, 2005)

• Parental Investment
• female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus has an av­er­age lifes­pan of 4 to 7 years, though in­di­vid­u­als often live longer. (Hem­bree, 2013)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  4 to 7+ years

Be­hav­ior

Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus is noc­tur­nal, hunt­ing dur­ing the night and tak­ing shel­ter dur­ing the day­light, when tem­per­a­tures are warm. Adults are usu­ally soli­tary, stay­ing in their bur­rows or shel­ters alone. While some take shel­ter be­tween rocks or under de­bris, many giant vine­ga­roons are fos­so­r­ial and dig their own bur­rows. They use their large pedi­palps to dig, and carry the ex­ca­vated sed­i­ment away to one pile that is used through­out the dig­ging process. Some bur­rows are tem­po­rary, while oth­ers are used for sev­eral months. They will also do main­te­nance on the bur­row, and often con­struct tun­nels and sev­eral cham­bers, though lit­tle ac­tiv­ity takes place within the bur­row. Usu­ally the tun­nels and cham­bers are only large enough for the vine­ga­roon to turn around. The mouth of the bur­row can also be uti­lized to catch prey, as prey may fall in if the open­ing is un­sealed. Giant vine­ga­roons are often more ac­tive after rains and at other times may stay mo­tion­less for hours. Vine­ga­roons are said to be able to run very quickly, es­pe­cially when pur­su­ing prey, and have been de­scribed as cur­so­r­ial. How­ever, they likely spend most of their time mov­ing slowly and cau­tiously, using their an­ten­ni­form legs to feel the ground as they walk. If their an­ten­ni­form legs come into con­tact with a prey item, their pedi­palps can usu­ally grab the prey be­fore it can get away. Giant vine­ga­roons may act very ag­gres­sive to­wards each other, with fights often end­ing in se­vere mu­ti­la­tion or death. Larger fe­males have also been ob­served can­ni­bal­iz­ing smaller fe­males. When threat­ened, they take a de­fen­sive pos­ture, with their ab­domen and claws raised, and their fla­gel­lum tail stiff and out­stretched. (Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, 1968; Eis­ner, et al., 1961; Hem­bree, 2013; Punzo, 2005; Punzo, 2006; Wey­goldt, 1970)

• Key Behaviors
• cursorial
• terricolous
• fossorial
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

Home Range

Adults may re­main in the same bur­row for months, though at other times bur­rows can be tem­po­rary. Their home range is re­stricted only to how far an in­di­vid­ual can walk, though they likely re­main in the same gen­eral area. (Hem­bree, 2013)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Giant vine­ga­roons walk on their pos­te­rior 3 pairs of legs, and use their first pair of legs as sen­sory or­gans. The first pair of legs, often re­ferred to as an­ten­ni­form legs, are car­ried off the ground, and have re­cep­tors on them to de­tect chem­i­cal and tac­tile stim­uli. They also de­tect vi­bra­tions. They are used to find prey and mates, since they are noc­tur­nal, and their vi­sion is weak. Their eyes can dis­tin­guish light and dark, but prob­a­bly noth­ing more. They walk along slowly, with their an­ten­ni­form legs mov­ing along the ground and other sub­strates. If their an­ten­ni­form legs come into con­tact with a prey item, they quickly snatch it with their pedi­palps. The an­ten­ni­form legs can also be used to find water sources, such as moist sand. Their tail and mod­i­fied pedi­palps also act as sen­sory or­gans. The pairs of legs used for lo­co­mo­tion are cov­ered in sen­sory hairs. Tac­tile con­nec­tions are used through­out the mat­ing process, as the male holds on to the fe­male using his palps, che­licerae, and an­ten­ni­form legs. (Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, 1968; Craw­ford and Cloud­sle, 1971; Kern Jr. and Mitchell, 2011; Punzo, 2006; Schmerge, et al., 2013; Wey­goldt, 1970)

• Communication Channels
• tactile

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• vibrations
• chemical

Food Habits

Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus is a car­ni­vore. It is an ef­fi­cient preda­tor that feeds on a va­ri­ety of Arthro­pods, pri­mar­ily in­sects such as cock­roaches and crick­ets, as well as mil­li­pedes, and other arach­nids. It has even been recorded feed­ing on small frogs and toads. It uses its large pedi­palps to hold prey, while the che­licerae tear and bite the prey. (Car­rel and Britt, 2009; Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, 1968; Punzo, 2006; Schmerge, et al., 2013)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• amphibians
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Pre­da­tion

To de­fend it­self, Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus can spray a sub­stance, mainly com­prised of acetic acid, from the py­gidial gland at the rear of the body, by the base of the tail. This spray is what gives them the com­mon name 'vine­ga­roons'. The spray is very ef­fec­tive at ward­ing off preda­tors, and it lingers in the air. Giant vine­ga­roons are also very ac­cu­rate with their aim, and since they only spray when phys­i­cally prod­ded or touched, preda­tors are at a close range when sprayed. Once a preda­tor has been sprayed, it is usu­ally ob­served dart­ing away, shak­ing its head and try­ing to clean it­self, ob­vi­ously in dis­tress. Giant vine­ga­roons can dis­charge their spray as many as 19 times in a row be­fore being de­pleted. Those that are de­pleted are able to spray again by the next day. Some small mam­mals, such as grasshop­per mice, deer mice, and shrews, can suc­cess­fully prey on giant vine­ga­roons, de­spite the vine­gar spray. These small an­i­mals are often very ag­gres­sive and per­sis­tent, at­tack­ing the vine­ga­roons until they are de­pleted. Camel spi­ders are also preda­tors. Larger mam­mals such as rac­coons, ar­madil­los, and feral hogs are also likely preda­tors. (Eis­ner, et al., 1961; Punzo, 2006; Schmerge, et al., 2013)

• Known Predators

  • southern grasshopper mice (Onychomys torridus)
  • deer mice (Peromyscus)
  • shrews (Soricidae)
  • camel spiders (Solifugae)
  • raccoons (Procyon lotor)
  • armadillos (Cingulata)
  • feral hogs (Sus scrofa)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Giant vine­ga­roons are sig­nif­i­cant preda­tors of many in­sects and other arthro­pods. They are also oc­ca­sion­ally prey to small mam­mals such as deer mice and shrews, as well as larger mam­mals such as rac­coons and wild hogs. (Eis­ner, et al., 1961; Punzo, 2006; Schmerge, et al., 2013)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Giant vine­ga­roons can be kept as pets, sim­i­lar to taran­tu­las. They are typ­i­cally kept in aquar­i­ums or sim­i­lar habi­tats, and are fed in­sects such as crick­ets. They can be han­dled with care. (Back­wa­ter Rep­tiles, 2011)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

The de­fen­sive, acetic acid sub­stance that Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus sprays from the gland by its tail can cause ir­ri­ta­tion and pain to a han­dler or col­lec­tor in the wild, es­pe­cially if the sub­stance gets into the eyes. There has been at least one in­stance of the spray caus­ing blis­ter­ing of the skin. Giant vine­ga­roons can also pinch with their large pedi­palps, if they feel threat­ened or dis­turbed. (Eis­ner, et al., 1961; Kern Jr. and Mitchell, 2011)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • poisonous

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus has no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus.

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus is also lo­cally re­ferred to as "gram­pus" in some re­gions. (Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, 1968)

Con­trib­u­tors

An­gela Miner (au­thor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff, Leila Si­cil­iano Mar­tina (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

Back­wa­ter Rep­tiles, 2011. "Whip Scor­pi­ons for Sale" (On-line). Back­wa­ter Rep­tiles. Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 21, 2013 at http://​www.​backwaterreptiles.​com/​scorpions/​whip-scorpion-for-sale.​html.

Car­rel, J., E. Britt. 2009. The whip scor­pion, Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Uropygi: The­ly­phonidae), preys on the chem­i­cally de­fended Florida scrub mil­li­pede, Flori­dobo­lus pen­neri) (Spirobol­ida: Flori­dobol­i­dae). Florida En­to­mol­o­gist, 92/3: 500-502.

Cloud­s­ley-Thomp­son, J. 1968. Spi­ders, Scor­pi­ons, Cen­tipedes and Mites. Ox­ford, Eng­land: Perg­a­mon Press.

Craw­ford, C., J. Cloud­sle. 1971. Water re­la­tions and des­ic­ca­tion-avoid­ing be­hav­ior in vine­ga­roon Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Arach­nidae, Uropygi). En­to­molo­gia Ex­per­i­men­talis et Ap­pli­cata, 14/1: 99-106.

Eis­ner, T., J. Mein­wald, A. Monro, R. Ghent. 1961. De­fense mech­a­nisms of Arthro­pods.1. The com­po­si­tion and func­tion of the spray of the whip scor­pion, Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Lucas) (Arach­nida, Pedi­palp­ida). Jour­nal of In­sect Phys­i­ol­ogy, 6/4: 272-298.

Hem­bree, D. 2013. Neoich­nol­ogy of the whip scor­pion Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus: com­plex bur­rows of preda­tory ter­res­trial arthro­pods. PALAIOS, 28/3-4: 141-162.

Kern Jr., W., R. Mitchell. 2011. "Giant Whip Scor­pion Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus gi­gan­teus (Lucas, 1835) (Arach­nida: The­ly­phonida (Uropygi): The­ly­phonidae)" (On-line). Uni­ver­sity of Florida. Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 21, 2013 at http://​edis.​ifas.​ufl.​edu/​pdffiles/​IN/​IN89000.​pdf.

Punzo, F. 2005. Neem seed ex­tract con­tain­ing azadirachtin af­fects mor­tal­ity, growth, and im­muno­log­i­cal func­tion in the whip­scor­pion Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Lucas) (Arach­nida, Uropygi). Bul­letin of En­vi­ron­men­tal Con­t­a­m­i­na­tion and Tox­i­col­ogy, 75/4: 684-690.

Punzo, F. 2006. Types of shel­ter sites used by the giant whip­scor­pion Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Arach­nida, Uropygi) in a habi­tat char­ac­ter­ized by hard adobe soils. Jour­nal of Arach­nol­ogy, 34/1: 266-268.

Schmerge, J., D. Riese, S. Ha­si­o­tis. 2013. Vine­ga­roon (Arach­nida: The­ly­phonida: They­ly­phonidae) track­way pro­duc­tion and mor­phol­ogy: im­pli­ca­tions for media and mois­ture con­trol on track­way mor­phol­ogy and a pro­posal for a novel sys­tem of in­ter­pret­ing Arthro­pod trace fos­sils. PALAIOS, 28/1-2: 116-128.

Wey­goldt, P. 1970. Courtship Be­hav­iour and Sperm Trans­fer in the Giant Whip Scor­pion, Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Lucas) (Uropygi, The­ly­phonidae). Be­hav­iour, 36: 1-8.

Wey­goldt, P. 1971. Life his­tory and re­pro­duc­tive bi­ol­ogy of giant whip scor­pion, Mastigo­proc­tus gi­gan­teus (Uropygi, The­ly­phonidae) from Florida. Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 164/2: 137-147.