Neobisiidae


Neobisiidae is a family of pseudoscorpions distributed throughout Africa, the Americas and Eurasia and consist of 550 species in 32 genera. Some species live in caves while some are surface-dwelling.

Characteristics

The body color ranges from reddish or dark brown through olive green to yellow or creamy white. The legs are greenish. They usually have four eyes, but cave-dwelling species often have two or no eyes at all. The body length ranges from 1 to 5 mm.
Specimens of Neobisiidae have two very long pedipalps with palpal chelae which strongly resemble the pincers found on true scorpions. The pedipalps consists of an immobile "hand" and "finger", with a separate movable finger controlled by an adductor muscle. Contrary to most other pseudoscorpions a venom gland and duct are located in the immobile "finger" part of each pedipalp, rather than in the movable one. The venom is used to capture and immobilize the prey.