Home / Arthropods*/Eklembacaklılar* / Galeodes toelgi / Galeodes toelgi (Toelg’s Camel Spider / Tölg'ün Böyüsü, Tölg'ün Böğüsü)
2/4

Galeodes toelgi (Toelg’s Camel Spider / Tölg'ün Böyüsü, Tölg'ün Böğüsü)

slideshow metadata Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
Galeodes toelgi (Toelg’s Camel Spider / Tölg'ün Böyüsü, Tölg'ün Böğüsü)


Galeodes toelgi (Toelg’s Camel Spider / Tölg'ün Böyüsü, Tölg'ün Böğüsü) [Female / Dişi] from Kilis - 04.05.2008.

The genus Galeodes (Camel Spiders), whose members are distributed from northern Africa through southeastern Europe and Asia, is the most speciose genus in the order Solifugae, with 174 species. In Turkey 21 species are known from Turkey. 16 of these seem to be endemic species to Turkey.

Galeodes toelgi inhabits the warm semi-desert plains of the SE Anatolia, it was describe from Gavur Mountains, Hatay province in Turkey. We found this animal in Kilis province (Çörten vilage) near the border of Gaziantep province. It is also reported from the Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Siirt provinces. However, there is a possibility of occurrence in N Syria and N Iraq. They are nocturnal coming out during the night in search for food and hide in burrow or under logs during the day. Pedipalps (mouth parts) and extremities are typically orange coloured. The total body length in this female which I photographed here is approx. 3 cm. However, it can be reach more than this value.

All Solifugids are very aggressive. They are not venomous but can inflict a very painful bite! Camel Spiders are short lived only living for approx. 1-1.5 years. They belong to the Solifugae family and have been called Wind Scorpions and Sun Spiders.

Solifugids are one of the dominant predatory arthropods in arid ecosystems and extreme arid ecosystems where there is little vegetation (e.g., rocky habitats and dune systems), and also serve as important prey for such vertebrates as exist in these habitats. Some authors considered solifugids indicator species for desert environments. Living in these arid environments, solifugids are subjected to very high daytime temperatures, low nighttime temperatures and low relative humidity. Nevertheless, they apparently have high metabolic rates and are, probably because of their high metabolic rate, voracious predators. All aspects of their interesting physiology in these extreme ecosystems remain to be explored.

References: 1. The Arachnid Order Solifugae . 2. Werner, F. (1922). Ergebnisse einer zoologisch. Forshungsrise nach Kleinasien. II. Skorpione und Solifugen asus dem Amanus-Gebirge. Archive für Naturgeschichte, Section A (Zoology), 85 (8): 141-145.3. Koç, H. (2007). The Solifuges (Arachnida: Solifugae) fauna of Southeast Anatolia: Systematic, Zoogeography and Ecology. Ege University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, PhD. Disertation, 243 pp (in Turkish with Eng. Summ).


Author Bayram GÖÇMEN
Created on Sunday 04 May 2008
Posted on Thursday 03 February 2011
Tags Kilis, TURKEY / TÜRKİYE
Albums
Visits 10027