WHIP SCORPION

any of the 75 species of the order Uropygi (sometimes Thelyphonida) of the arthropod class Arachnida. They look like true scorpions, but the larger species have a whiplike telson, or tailan organ of touch, devoid of a stinger. The second pair of appendages, the pedipalps, are spiny pincers; the third pair are long feelers. Whip scorpions secrete an irritating mist, which has a vinegarlike odour in Mastigoproctus giganteus, the vinegarroon (variably spelled) of the southern U.S. and Mexico. With its 65-millimetre (2 1/2-inch) body it is the largest species. Whip scorpions are commonest from India and Japan to New Guinea. Two genera occur in the New World.