No sting in the tail

When I first moved to Arizona several years ago, I was more concerned about scorpions sneaking into my second floor apartment than was altogether rational, and each morning I would check my shoes to make sure that no scorpion had crawled inside during the night.  Arizona was not so full of scorpions, however, that any ever took refuge in my shoes or anywhere else in my apartment.  In fact, I only encountered scorpions when I looked specifically for them in the desert at night and when I searched under rocks during the day.  Surprisingly, a scorpion (of sorts) was to be found much closer to home in Florida.

A short-tailed whipscorpion (Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) that I found under a rock.

I was looking under rocks just outside the house when I found something that looked like an odd spider.  I did not think much about it at the time, since it was so small and quickly disappeared into the loose soil.  However, once I looked at the magnified picture, I realized that its shape was not right for a spider, and I was eventually able to identify it as a short-tailed whipscorpion.  Despite the intimidating name, the members of this unusual group are not particularly closely related to scorpions and lack the long tail and stinger.  They also lack eyes.  Instead, they use their front pair of legs to feel their way as they walk along on their other three pairs of legs.