Editing Uropygi (section)

==Behaviour==

[[File:Vinegaroon - Mastigoproctus giganteus with Slate Millipede.jpg|thumb|''[[Mastigoproctus giganteus]]'', a predator of millipedes]]
Whip scorpions are [[carnivorous]], nocturnal hunters feeding mostly on [[insect]]s, [[millipede]]s, scorpions, and terrestrial isopods,<ref name=schmidt93/> but sometimes on worms and slugs. ''Mastigoproctus'' sometimes preys on small [[vertebrate]]s.<ref name=schmidt93/> The prey is crushed between special teeth on the inside of the trochanters (the second segment of the "legs") of the front appendages. They are valuable in controlling the population of cockroaches and crickets.

Males secrete a [[spermatophore]] (a united mass of sperm), which is transferred to the female following courtship behaviour, in which the male holds the ends of the female's first legs in his [[chelicerae]]. The spermatophore is deposited on the ground and picked up by the female using her genital area. In some genera, the male then uses his pedipalps to push the spermatophore into her body.<ref name=RuppFoxBarn04p569/>

[[File:Mastigoproctus giganteus 0008 L.D.jpg|thumb|''Mastigoproctus giganteus'' female with eggs]]
After a few months, the female will dig a large burrow and seal herself inside. Up to 40 eggs are [[wiktionary:extrude|extruded]], within a membranous broodsac that preserves moisture and remains attached to the genital [[operculum (animal)|operculum]] and the fifth segment of the mother's ventral [[opisthosoma]]. The female refuses to eat and holds her opisthosoma in an upward arch so that the broodsac does not touch the ground for the next few months, as the eggs develop into [[wiktionary:postembryo|postembryos]]. Appendages become visible.<ref name=McMonigle-2017>{{cite book |first=Orin |last=McMonigle |date=November 2017 |title=Whipscorpions and Whipspiders: Culturing gentle monsters |publisher=Elytra and Antenna |isbn = 978-098024012-2}}</ref>

The white young that hatch from the postembryos climb onto their mother's back and attach themselves there with special suckers. After the first [[Moulting|moult]], when they look like miniature adults but with bright red palps, they leave the burrow. The mother may live up to two more years. The young grow slowly, going through four moults in about four years before reaching adulthood. They live for up to another four years.<ref name=schmidt93/><ref name=McMonigle-2017/>