Nov 6, 2007

My Kind of Creepy-Crawly

Judy of Butter Side Down, has some of the best eyes around. She was able to capture this tiny critter not only with her eyes, but also with her camera--and with a metric ruler to boot!

As Judy's friend, Phil, put it:

Pseudoscorpions are common but rarely seen. They are harmless, small (1/16-1/8 inch), tick-shaped critters with a large pair of pincers and lack the long tail and stinger of a true scorpion. Pseudocorpions are really beneficial because they feed on carpet beetles, ants, mites, small flies and other critters in the home. They are usually found in small numbers and spend most of their time hunting in closets and other quiet places. They cannot bite. …Pseudoscorpions can live for 2 years or more.
Now, this is my kind of creepy-crawly. It stays out of sight, and quietly does its business of killing pests in my house. I hereby open my doors and roll out the red carpet for any psuedoscorpion looking for a new home.

...and it's just a little cute...

Thanks for the photos and the info, Judy.

5 comments:

Jenny Reiswig said...

I found one of those on the kitchen table at my folks' house. It was madder than hell - gnashing its little pinchers for all it was worth as we gathered round... to laugh at it. Tiny uglies are cute when they are mad. So long as they can't really hurt you.

Victorya said...

It's cute in a crunchy sort of way.

Arachnophile said...

I love these little guys! It was the first thing I tried to "sketch" like all of my naturalist heros. All of said heros seem to be a lot better at it.

You see them a lot in leaf litter or under logs 'n such. :) I think they are TOTALLY cute, but then I'm biased

Anonymous said...

Pretty Cute, I wanna go looking in my closet now :D

Anonymous said...

I seen one, but it was smaller than that one and it was see through.