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Crikey!!! An unwanted visitor
Date Published : 11 February 2010
Red Roman
Carmen found this 'bad boy' in her bedroom, he wasn't the only one trying to escape the +120F heat this week.
Red Roman's aren't commonly found, so don't worry about them in between the sheets and they aren't even spiders! The only similarity is that they have 8 legs, they belong to the family Solifugae, they have no venom glands and are not a threat to man although they are very aggressive and fast moving and can inflict a painful bite!!
The name of the solifugids originates from Latin for 'fleeing from the sun', the term 'sun spider' applies to those species active during the day that tend to avoid the heat and dash from shadow to shadow - often of a person - giving the alarming impression that they are giving chase.
The term "Red Roman" probably orginats from the Afrikaans term 'rooiman' (red man) due to the red brown color of the species. They eat insects, spiders, scorpions, small reptiles, dead birds and even each other! Well, there you go!
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