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NEWS > SCIENCE > HALF-SPIDER HALF-SCORPION MONSTERS TAKING OVER YOSEMITE
HALF-SPIDER HALF-SCORPION MONSTERS TAKING OVER YOSEMITE
December 6 2010
Mariposa, CA - With all our dominance over the planet it is amazing that we are still regularly discovering species of life in frequently travelled areas. Whether it’s new microbes in a California lake or new monkeys in Myanmar, the sheer volume of new 
species being uncovered almost daily is something to be marvelled at, something that shows the incredible diversity and the dynamic nature of our planet. Those discoveries also show how limited our knowledge of the planet truly is and how many discoveries still await us in the jungles and caverns of planet earth.
Thus far none of those recent discoveries have been anything but curiosities or scientific anomalies. While the arsenic-based life forms recently discovered by NASA are certainly an intriguing species, no new animal has been discovered in recent years that has fundamentally changed the way in which we live our lives. None of these species has been able to challenge the dominance of the human animal or has even posed a significant risk to the life and well being of our species. A recent discovery in Yosemite National Park may however change that forever. The discovery of a so-called pseudoscorpion, a spider possessed with scorpion-style venomous claws, has suddenly put the dominance of mankind to the test, particularly as the new species rapidly expands its territory.
“The canyon where it was found was made by a glacier during an ice age millions of years ago. Through time, rubble with larger rocks would fall and create piles with caves or subterranean voids. We think that’s where this animal was trapped and evolved into the species that it is now,” said researcher James Cokendolpher. “The species is small and blind and in these caves poses little risk to human beings. Their venom is certainly dangerous but we are not talking about immediate fatalities. Still, these aren’t things you want to run into and unfortunately they exist in exactly the kinds of places where humans go.”
Most members of the species are no longer than half an inch, but their habitation in dark granite caves may be housing deeper secrets.
“Unto itself this species is certainly interesting but largely harmless. The level of human interaction is extremely limited and the ability of this species to do real damage is marginal at best, but the real question is if we didn’t know about this species, what else may be lying down in the depths of these canyons,” said Scrape TV Zoology analyst Cambridge Walker. “Nature does some amazing things, and creates some deadly species. Generally speaking life forms that utilize things like poison and venom are smaller, but there is no guarantee of that. With all these new discoveries we are starting to understand that life is far more complex and far more diverse than previously believed and that could result in amazing and potentially deadly discoveries.”
The arsenic-based life forms recently discovered has prompted many experts to begin looking for entirely new subspecies and forms of life.
“Nature has a lot of surprises still left for us. As clever as we are and as dominant as we have become there are still many things we simply don’t understand and many things that nature can still shock us with and some of those things may be lurking in our backyard,” continued Walker. “I mean it’s unlikely that we will see giant spiderscorpions emerging from the depths of Yosemite but it is certainly possible. Nature has shown us that just about anything is possible and if that happens, well, I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how easy they are to kill.”
It’s believed that anything smaller than a VW bug would be relatively easy to kill but there are no guarantees.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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