Hobbies And Interests
Climatic Preferences
All solifugae species are found in warm and arid environments. They are often used as endemic indicators for desert biomes, though they have been found in warm grasslands or forest habitats. To find solifugae in areas of high vegetation is unusual as most prefer environments with loose sand and scattered vegetation, such as sand dunes.
Preferred Soils
One of the reasons solifugae prefer dry arid environments is because of the loose sandy soil typical to those areas. Solifugae burrow and therefore need loose dirt or lightly compacted sand. Burrowing is crucial to their survival, as females create burrows in which to lay their eggs. The ability to burrow is crucial to the survival of wind scorpions because mating only occurs once a year.
Nocturnal Creatures
The word '"solifugae" is Latin for "flees from the sun." This is a fitting name as solifugae are nocturnal creatures, though they are ocasionally seen in daylight. It is speculated that they may go into hibernation as they have rarely been seen during colder winter months. It is also speculated that solifugae diversity may be extremely localized, with only one species existing in one area at any given time as it is rare to find two solifugae species in the same area.
Global Distribution
Whether they are referred to as wind scorpions, sun spiders, camel spiders or sun scorpions, solifugae are found in almost all desert environments worldwide. An interesting exception is Australia, where no solifugae species have been found, despite the continent's favorable habitats.