An unknown quality, perhaps the quasi-permanence of great age or the accumulation of organic matter and hollows in fissured trunks, turns certain trees into magnets for myriad arthropods. Some host assemblies of beetles; hunting carabids, dowdy weevils and plodding fungus beetles might share the convex territory of a trailside myrtle, while long-legged flies, derbid bugs and minute wasps occupy streaks of sun and shadow in composite repose.
One such tree straddled a slope of faded graves on the western face of Bukit Brown. Pockets of debris, adventitious shoots, vines and stranglers have turned its base into a landscape of cracked bark and mossy cuts. Peppering this second skin of flakes and fibre were numerous holes, each lined with pale strands and ranging from about a centimetre to nearly an inch in diameter. The tips of hairy legs were evident in many of these retreats, which were occupied by theraphosids of unusual boldness. Big, brown and bearing fangs that extend downwards like pickaxes, these primitive spiders wait near the entrance of their burrows for passing insects which they ambush, stab and drag into the darkness.
The tarantulas have their own foes. Pompilid wasps have the speed, strength and sting to tackle even large specimens. Scorpions, too, have been seen gnawing at the appendages of fellow arachnids who probably preferred to lose a leg than their lives. One individual was, not too surprisingly, found lurking on the same tree, though in a cleft a little away from holey ground. Despite the apparent encumberment of a long 'tail' and heavy chelae, Lychas scutilus is an adept climber with the ability to scurry over foliage and branches with disconcerting speed. When not on the prowl, however, the animals are sluggish and shy away from conflict, letting go of their perch when cornered to brave the dangers of soiled litter.
A quite different order of arachnids, which many regard as utterly alien or the creation of digital wizardry, are the tailless whipscorpions. Also known as amblypygids, these creatures have highly flattened bodies and latigrade appendages that allow them to slip into crevices and deep caverns. One small species can be sometimes found under logs or on well-drained banks, but little else is known about the two genera, Charon and Sarax (=Phrynichosarax), that occur locally.
Amblypygids have beady eyes, arranged like turrets, on their cephalothorax, but sight probably plays second fiddle to the sensory reach of a pair of antenniform legs that allow the animals to touch, tap and taste their personal perimeters. Prey, when detected, is snared by raptorial palps and trapped or impaled on long spines. Lacking venom, amblypygids simply use their mouthparts to rip their victim a new one, disgorge ingestive fluids into the resulting hole and sip the husk dry. Field observations of their hunting technique are far and few, though one inteprid student has conducted rudimentary experiments on hungry animals which gobbled up woodlice, crickets and termites with no apparent discernment. A greater surprise is that the researcher was able to procure twenty specimens, for sightings of even one, such as this robust trunk dweller at Bukit Brown, are already cause for celebration in woods that have lost much of their power to persuade men who'd rather drive over the dead than waste their dollars on a walk through time.
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