Solifugae
No. of jars: 371
No. of species: 153
Types: 54
Solifuges, or camel spiders, are a moderately diverse order of arachnids with ca. 1100 described species. They are voracious hunters of other invertebrates and easy to recognise by virtue of their massive chelicerae that serve as powerful jaws. They usually live in dry climates, such as in desert regions and steppe throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia. The LIB collection of solifuges is diverse and comprises 153 species of which more than 50 are represented by types. The collection was revised by the second director of the Hamburg Museum, Karl Kraepelin, in a monumental monograph published in 1901 but additional species were described by arachnologist Carl-Friedrich Roewer in the following decades. Most species are from Africa but there are also additional species from central Asia and the Americas.
To the catalogues:
- Weidner, H., 1959: Die Entomologischen Sammlungen des Zoologischen Staatsinstituts und Zoologischen Museums Hamburg, I. Teil, Pararthropoda und Chelicerata I. - Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst., 57: 89-142. [ PDF ]
- Rack, G., 1971: Die Entomologischen Sammlungen des Zoologischen Instituts und Zoologischen Museums Hamburg, I. und II. Teil (Nachtrag), Pararthropoda und Chelicerata. Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst., 67: 109-133. [ PDF ]