#Schizomida
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stefdegreef.eurosky.social
And now for something a little bit different ! As far as I know, the first record of #Schizomida from #Cambodia. Found by sifting old, mouldy leaf litter in a swampy area of the Dipterocarp forest near the South Gate of #AngkorThom. About 1 cm long.
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
A short-tailed whipscorpion, Schizomida, a kind of arachnid ressembling a small brownish spider with very long front legs used as sensors. A short-tailed whipscorpion, Schizomida, a kind of arachnid ressembling a small brownish spider with very long front legs used as sensors. A short-tailed whipscorpion, Schizomida, a kind of arachnid ressembling a small brownish spider with very long front legs used as sensors.
November 1, 2026 at 10:12 AM
amypteride.bsky.social
And to end today's topic, the usual drawing auto-feedback and refs!

Thank you for reading & I’ll see you on the next #Cheliceratime!

4/4
Is this paleoart accurate ? The pose was inspired by the fossil itself, I’m not that much at ease when drawing pedipalpids so I played it safe. The first pair of legs isn’t preserved, so these ones are based on current mastigoproctines’ proportions. The pedipalps’ spines follow what’s been observed on the holotype. Missing details (like the eyes) are reconstructed based on other mastigoproctines. REFERENCES · Clouse R.M., Branstetter M.G., Buenavente P., Crowley L.M., Czekanski‐Moir J., General D.E.M., Giribet G., Harvey M.S., Janies D.A., Mohagan A.B., Mohagan D.P., Sharma P.P. & Wheeler W.C., 2017. First global molecular phylogeny and biogeographical analysis of two arachnid orders (Schizomida and Uropygi) supports a tropical Pangean origin and mid‐Cretaceous diversification. Journal of Biogeography 44, p. 2660–2672. • Dunlop J.A. & Penney D., 2012. Fossil Arachnids. Monograph Series Vol.2, Siri Scientific Press. 192 pp. · Pinheiro F.L., Kellner A.W.A., Da Silva J.A., Duque R.D.C., Sayão J.M., Araújo E.V., Costa F.R., Buchmann R., Cerqueira G.M., Canejo L., Beccari V., Bantim R.A.M., Holgado B. & Pêgas R.V, 2025. Cretaceous Pterosaurs of the Araripe Basin: A Comprehensive Taxonomic Update and Paleobiological Insights. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 90(1), 70 pp. • Santana W., Pinheiro A., Silva T.A., Lima D., 2024. Description of a new fossil Thelyphonida (Arachnida, Uropygi) and further record of Cratosolpuga wunderlichi Selden, in Selden and Shear, 1996 (Arachnida, Solifugae) from Crato Formation (Aptian/Albian), Araripe Basin, Brazil. PeerJ 12, e16670, 20 pp. The ICS international chronostratigraphic chart 2025. Episodes 2025. Online at https://stratigraphy.org/chart Colorado Plateau Geosystems Inc., 2026. Global Series. In DeepTimeMaps. Online at https://deeptimemaps.com/map-lists-thumbnails/global-series/ Dunlop J. A., Penney D. & Jekel D. 2023. A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives. In World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, version 23.5.
October 9, 2026 at 3:31 PM
idrawsdinosaurs.bsky.social
Identifications 2/2:
I. Uropygi (vinegaroons)
J. Schizomida (sprickets)
K. Amblypygi (tailless whip-scorpions)
L. Palpigradi (paligrades)
M. Solifugae (solifuges)
N. Xiphosura (horseshoe crabs)
September 30, 2026 at 5:19 AM
amypteride.bsky.social
You know the drill, let's first talk about this species naming history, morphology, distribution and life cycle of this schizomid.

#Cheliceratime
2/3
Hubbardia pentapeltis is one of the first schizomid species to have received a scientific name. It was given by Orator Fuller Cook Jr., an American entomologist, in 1899, 46 years before the name Schizomida was coined. This species has also received other names through decades of research, having been housed sometimes under the genera Trithyreus or Schizomus. However, due to zoological naming rules, Hubbardia remained the preferred genus to name this animal. Hubbardia pentapeltis is a 1-ish cm long arachnid, and as one of the first schizomids to have received a name, is often used as a classic template of the schizomid body plan. The animal is eyeless, with elongated antennae-like first legs, 6 walking legs and an opisthosoma ending with a short flagellum, looking almost like a miniature eyeless vinegaroon. The similarities stop here however, the flagellum of schizomid being rather short, pedipals opening in an up-and-down move (while vinegaroons open their pedipalps to their side) and the prosoma’s carapace is divided into 3 sub-parts, all these features being observable on H. pentapeltis. This species is also a good example of how sexual dimorphism works among schizomids, males having a kinda triangular broad, fused and enlarged flagellum (not looking so much like a flagellum in this case tho) whome females preserve a more simple flagellum. Hubbardia pentapeltis is endemic to California, the first described specimen coming precisely from Montenery County in the Los Padres National Forest, at the South of Los Angeles. Observations related to this species can be a bit scarced (and no particular distinction between males & females can be noted), but most of the available data highlight a decrease in activity during Northern Summer.
September 16, 2026 at 4:04 PM
amypteride.bsky.social
A lil' word about Hubbardia species and schizomids phylogeny and it's already time to end this post with the usual drawing autofeedback and some refs.

Thank you for reading & I’ll see you on the next #Cheliceratime!
3/3
The genus Hubbardia contains as of now (September 2026) 9 species, all of them living only in California, making this genus endemic to Western North America. Due to being the oldest described species of the bunch, some reports of H. pentapeltis have been made outside of this area like in Florida, but are now seen as incorrect. H. pentapeltis and its relatives are ground dwellers, living in leaf litter and can withstand pretty extreme situations, some specimens having been recorded surviving 5 months without food. Schizomids are close to vinegaroons, and they both were seen as a single order a century ago. H. pentapeltis is a basal member of the sub-family Hubbardiinae, which houses species both in the Americas and in Asia. American ones form a grade in which Hubbardia pentapeltis takes part, said grade from which emerged Asian species. Like several other arachnid orders, the phylogeny of schizomids shows a clear split between old & new world species and seems to have been heavily impacted by Pangea break up. The slide also comprise a phylogenetic tree showing the american Hubardiidae forming a large grade from which the asian species descended. Is this drawing accurate? It looks a bit thin for a specimen of this species, but apart from that it looks fine to me. The colors are a bit flat, maybe a lil’ bit of supplementary shading would have helped. I wanted to give some movement to the drawing by raising this leg but it didn’t come out as well as I wanted. I chose to draw a male for once, in order to highlight the modified flagellum of male schizomids REFERENCES · Clouse R.M., Branstetter M.G., Buenavente P., Crowley L.M., Czekanski‐Moir J., General D.E.M., Giribet G., Harvey M.S., Janies D.A., Mohagan A.B., Mohagan D.P., Sharma P.P. & Wheeler W.C., 2017. First global molecular phylogeny and biogeographical analysis of two arachnid orders (Schizomida and Uropygi) supports a tropical Pangean origin and mid‐Cretaceous diversification. Journal of Biogeography 44, p. 2660–2672. • Cook O.F., 1899. Hubbardia, a new genus of Pedipalpi. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 4, p. 249–261. • Dunlop J.A. & Penney D., 2012. Fossil Arachnids. Monograph Series Vol.2, Siri Scientific Press. 192 pp. • Reddell J.R. & Cokendolpher J.C., 1995. Catalogue, bibliography, and generic revision of the order Schizomida (Arachnida). Texas Memorial Museum, Speleological Monographs 4, 170 pp. Hubbardia pentapeltis - World Schizomid Catalog https://wac.nmbe.ch/order/schizomida/speciesdata/5688#
September 16, 2026 at 4:04 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
schizomida are awesome you’re lucky
October 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM
amypteride.bsky.social
This species is among the several fossil species showing how much geogrphy shaped schizomid's evolution, and as always, the usual paleoart autofeedback (it's the first paleoart of this species!) and refs!

Thank you for reading & I’ll see you on the next #Cheliceratime!
3/3
Schizomids are close relatives of vinegaroons, to the point they both were considered to belong in a single order a century ago. A. pseudoannulatus is a member of the family Hubbardiidae, the most prolific family of schizomid, housing species both in the Americas and in Asia. American species form a grade in which Antillostenochrus pseudoannulatus takes part, said grade from which emerged Asian species. Like several other arachnid orders, the phylogeny of schizomids shows a clear split between old & new world species and seem to have been heavily impacted by Pangea break up. The slide also comprise a phylogenetic tree showing the american Hubardiidae forming a large grade from which the asian species descended. The schizomids of dominican amber Antillostenochrus pseudoannulatus is far from being the only schizomid known in Dominican amber. In fact, with Rowlandius velteni and several undescribed specimens, it seems that this order was already thriving at similar levels as today in the Carribeans. A. pseudoannulatus & R. velteni also provide evidence that 2 of the most widespread carribean schizomid genera were already well diversified 15 million years ago. This suggests, like it’s the case with extinct & extant amblypygids from the Hispaniola island, that the current Carribean arachofauna is potentially the direct offspring of the arachnids that lived here several million years before. Is this paleoart accurate ? To my knowledge it’s the first paleoart of this species, so I tried my best thanks to the detailed description of the species! Colors were chosen both by taking modern Antillostenochrus species as reference & by looking at the sclerotinisation levels of the fossil. Since no eyes are known & that visual refs for the chelicerae weren’t always clear, I choosed to place the first legs and pedipalps like that to hide these areas. This part (second & third legs bases) is taken from general Antillostenochrus morphology. REFERENCES · de Armas L.F. & Teruel R., 2011. On the fossil schizomids (Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) from Dominican Republic amber. Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 48, p. 335–336. · Clouse R.M., Branstetter M.G., Buenavente P., Crowley L.M., Czekanski‐Moir J., General D.E.M., Giribet G., Harvey M.S., Janies D.A., Mohagan A.B., Mohagan D.P., Sharma P.P. & Wheeler W.C., 2017. First global molecular phylogeny and biogeographical analysis of two arachnid orders (Schizomida and Uropygi) supports a tropical Pangean origin and mid‐Cretaceous diversification. Journal of Biogeography 44, p. 2660–2672. • Dunlop J.A. & Penney D., 2012. Fossil Arachnids. Monograph Series Vol.2, Siri Scientific Press. 192 pp. · Krüger J. & Dunlop J.A., 2010. Schizomids (Arachnida: Schizomida) from Dominican Republic amber. Alavesia 3, p. 43–53. · Penney D., 2008. Dominican Amber spiders: A comparative palaeontological-neontological approach to identification, faunistics, ecology and biogeography. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17, article 105, 14pp. The ICS international chronostratigraphic chart 2025. Episodes 2025. Online at https://stratigraphy.org/chart Colorado Plateau Geosystems Inc., 2023. North America. In DeepTimeMaps. Online at https://deeptimemaps.com/map-lists-thumbnails/global-series/ Dunlop J. A., Penney D. & Jekel D. 2023. A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives. In World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, version 23.5.
March 20, 2026 at 5:31 PM
lucaskias.bsky.social
Beyond spiders and scorpions, Chelicerates are arthropod animals belonging to the subphylum Chelicerata. They are mainly characterized by having "chelicerae," which are the first pair of appendix near the mouth that can be shaped like a stinger or a chelae (similar to crab pincers).
#SciArt
The illustrations are in poster format. It is the first of four parts. All are digital arts. This first part shows 14 species of Chelicerta that represent the main classes of the group: Pycnogonida, Xiphosura, Amblypygi, Solifugae, Ricinulei, Opiliones, Thelyphonida, Areanea, Parasitiformes, Pseudoscorpiones, Palpigradi, Scorpiones, Schizomida and Acariformes. The next parts will show the common and species names of each one. What are the species illustrated in this poster? 1. Sea spider (Anoplodactylus californicus); 2. Horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus); 3. Whip spider (Heterophrynus longicornis); 4. Camel spider (Gaucha fasciata) What are the species illustrated in this poster? 5. Hooded tickspider (Cryptocellus simonis); 6. Harvestmen (Cynortellana pulchra); 7. Whip scorpion (Heptatarsus brasilianus); 8. Tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana) What are the species illustrated in this poster? 9. Tick (Amblyomma rotundatum); 10. False scorpion (Paratemnoides nidificator); 11. Microwhip scorpion (Eukoenenia spelaea); 12. Scorpion (Tityus neglectus); 13. Short-tailed whip scorpion (Rowlandius sp.); 14. Spider mite (Tetranychus urticae)
April 28, 2026 at 11:46 AM
plasmaring.bsky.social
I was thinking "oh they look like if a spider was a cricket" and then I looked them up and
screenshot from wikipedia saying that Schizomida are "also known as sprickets"
December 1, 2025 at 5:39 AM
rridrobot.bsky.social
RRIDs were included in this in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society paper. RRIDs improve reproducibility in scientific research. #OpenScience #reproducibility #ReproducibleResearch
Unravelling the hidden diversity of schizomids (Arachnida: Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) in caves of the Brazilian semiarid
Read the full paper: Unravelling the hidden diversity of schizomids (Arachnida: Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) in caves of the Brazilian semiarid
doi.org
March 11, 2026 at 7:01 AM
bopco-be.bsky.social
🔬 First Record of Short-Tailed Whipscorpions in Belgium!🦂
Stenochrus portoricensis, a species of short-tailed whipscorpion native to Central America, was discovered in a glasshous of the Meise Botanic Garden. Despite its name, it is not a true scorpion but belongs to the arachnid order Schizomida.
December 9, 2025 at 11:40 AM
frankashwood.bsky.social
I'll show you one in person someday if you'll show me a Schizomida!
November 14, 2024 at 6:22 PM
xcspence.bsky.social
I’ve seen observations of Ricinulei from south Texas, but I know they’re easier to get in Central and South America. So far my only lead on palpigradi is from south Florida, buddy of mine found them in leaf litter alongside a population of Schizomida
December 21, 2024 at 5:01 PM
tshahan.bsky.social
🙏📯a few non-spider arachnid orders🎺 🙇

Amblypygi - (w/ young!) feeding on a cricket, in cave, Belize
Solifugae - under rock(?), Anza-Borrego, California
Pseudoscorpiones - forest floor, Oklahoma
Schizomida - under log, forest floor, Costa Rica
January 9, 2026 at 12:32 AM
biorxivpreprint.bsky.social
A trait-based taxonomic data base for the order Schizomida (Arachnida) with descriptions of a new fossil species from Kachin amber and the female of Surazomus palenque Villarreal, Miranda & Giupponi 2016. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.01.582919v1
A trait-based taxonomic data base for the order Schizomida (Arachnida) with descriptions of a new fossil species from Kachin amber and the female of Surazomus palenque Villarreal, Miranda & Giupponi 2016. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.01.582919v1
Despite a global distribution throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, the order Schizomida (Arachnid
www.biorxiv.org
March 5, 2024 at 4:34 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Day 19 of my 2025 Favorites: Schizomida mom and her cluster of baby clones!

I've had many generations of these tiny arachnids from 2 females (they're parthenogenic) collected in a public park near Miami a few years ago, and happened to spot this one with her babies one evening. Delightful lump 🥹
Light brown and red leggy arachnid in a bit of wet wood, her booty in the air like a spire, with her ghostly white babies facing downward clustered around it almost like an unopened flower
December 20, 2025 at 3:39 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Me in the national security group chat
"It's ok, we're under this piece of bark, the Schizomida can't hear us"
3 pale brown flat isopods, in a circle facing inward on the underside of a piece of bark
March 25, 2025 at 1:09 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Just a girl and her bundle of baby clones she's wearing like an ass turban 🥹
My population of Schizomida (parthenogenic tailless whipscorpions) are so happy in their box of dirt. As always, tending a box of dirt is such a good decision and I recommend it.
Small light brown arachnid with thin legs and red spiky palps; her cylindrical abdomen is held vertical and just the tip is peeking out from a dozen or so ghostly white babies wrapped around it, facing downward
February 22, 2025 at 3:09 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Besides a couple isopod species, we also got a Schizomida population, and a year-old Crosbyella spinturnix harvestperson who is clearly not skipping meals.
Pale leggy arachnid with large red palps, on mahogany bark Cjonky short-legged harvestperson, bright orange, with giant palps bunched over her face
February 12, 2025 at 3:59 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
The Schizomida do not deserve this, they deserve love and all the research
Slender pale brown arachnid with long antenniform 1st leg pair, and reddish little palps, amongst the sand
February 4, 2025 at 4:05 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Checking in on two of the shy arachnids in my care: Crosbyella spinturnix harvestperson, and Ms Schizomida.
Schizomida looks like an adult, and wouldn't be surprised if she's pregger. Orange Lump is just being a Lump idk. 🧡
#Arachtober
Short-legged chonky harvestperson H large palps folded in from of its face; they're bright and solid orange Long leggy brown arachnid with red palps running along a bit of bark
October 21, 2024 at 3:01 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
ADDENDUM to the previous addendum: I had to split my Schizomida "colony"* because there were so many, plus there were a half dozen BABIES 🥹
#Invertebrates

*they're not necessarily social but they don't seem to mind proximity to others and don't cannibalize as far as I can tell
Tiny slender pale baby arachnid running amongst dirt. A giant isopod looms above An adult running in the dirt; she's got more pigment than the babies and is of course significantly bigger
September 12, 2024 at 2:45 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
I brought back a tiny Schizomida short-tailed whipscorpion from south Florida last year, and the one has become two in my care. All hail parthenogenesis (males are unknown in this species)
To paraphrase Bender, what harm can one infinitely self-replicating arachnid do? 🖤
#InverteFest
Slender pale brown arachnid, with long legs and palps folded in front of her face Another of the species, identical in appearance, in a little crevice
August 29, 2024 at 2:47 AM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Not entirely surprising to me now, but creatures who want to spend their entire lives under a nice comfy log in the dirt do quite well when you approximate such conditions at home.
The social pseudoscorpions, Shy-Hulud, Schizomida, and dozens of isopods I'm keeping agree.
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · Jun 16
I have successfully raised* a tiny translucent eyeless Crosbyella spinturnix harvestchild into a healthy bright orange chonky-palped adult, and I feel proud 🥹 I love these lumps. 🧡

*I say "raised", but she grew up in one of my isopod/springtail enclosures with no special intervention from me)
🌿
Chonky solid orange harvestperson with short legs bunched around her, and giant palps folded over her face View from the front, just legs and thick toothed palps visible Top view; a pair of beady little eyes peering up at you A baby of the species, white and translucent with no visible eyes
June 16, 2024 at 6:07 AM