”Baby Damon”—one of six 2nd instar Tanzanian giant tailless whip scorpions that now call me Papa!
Just a quick post to formally introduce “Baby Damon,” who arrived last Friday with several siblings courtesy of my friend Martin Hauser in California. Damon represents the species Damon diadema, or the Tanzanian giant tailless whip scorpion. It will take at least a year for Damon to reach maturity, and he may live as long as ten years or more, so it looks like I’m in this for the long haul! When I visited Martin in California a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to photograph Damon’s terrifyingly impressive mother and father as well—look for those pics soon!
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2012
Beetles In The Bush 
Congratulations! Long live to Baby Damon.
Happy Father’s Day, Ted. And welcome to your new addition, that of Damon! He/she is beautiful. It was super to celebrate Father’s Day with you, your Dad, and of course Al, and the family. Love ya. Sallie
Thank you Sallie – a real treat to have brunch with my favorite parents-in-law!
Interesting beast! I love the “wolf’s head” like color pattern at the back of the cephalothorax. Is that a typical pattern for the immatures?
I also have photos of immature Phrynus marginemaculatus and do not see the same pattern on the cephalothorax, so it must be something specific to Damon and perhaps its allies.
Very nice. Looking forward to seeing his/her family!
Very cool – good luck with him!
Congratulations on the new additions to your family. I’m curious to know what your responsibility is for its healthy life over the next ten years.
My responsibilities? Just feed and provide a habitat with adequate space, warmth, moisture, humidity, light, ventilation and square feet of vertical “crevice” space!
Nevertheless, I don’t think it will be as hard as the two kids I’ve spent the last 16 years being responsible for (plus 1 dog, 8 cats, 1 salamander, 4 rats, and innumerable scorpions, spiders, Madagascan hissing roaches, hickory horned devils, tiger beetle larvae, etc.).