Editing Amblypygi (section)

==Behavior==
[[File:Damon diadema female.jpg|thumb|A ''Damon diadema'' mother carrying young]]
Amblypygids have eight legs, but use only six for walking, often in a crab-like, sideways fashion. The front pair of legs are modified for use as antennae-like feelers, with many fine segments giving the appearance of a "whip". When a suitable prey is located with the antenniform legs, the amblypygid seizes its victim with large spines on the grasping [[pedipalp]]s, impaling and immobilizing the prey. This is typically done while climbing the side of a vertical surface and looking downward at their prey.<ref name="Ladle2003">{{Cite journal |last1=Ladle |first1=Richard J. |last2=Velander |first2=Kathryn |date=2003 |title=Fishing behavior in a giant whip spider |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289037904 |journal=The Journal of Arachnology |volume=31 |pages=154–156 |via=ResearchGate|doi=10.1636/0161-8202(2003)031[0154:FBIAGW]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=86012520 }}</ref> 

Pincer-like [[chelicerae]] then work to grind and chew the prey prior to ingestion. The tailless whip scorpion may go for over a month in which no food is eaten. Often this is due to pre-[[Moulting|molt]]. Due to the lack of venom the tailless whip scorpion is very nervous in temperament, retreating away if any dangerous threat is sensed by the animal.{{Citation needed|reason=Sounds like speculation|date=March 2022}}

[[File:Amblypygi-legs.jpg|thumb|Comparing the front and back legs of an amblypygid]]
Courtship involves the male depositing stalked [[spermatophore]]s, which have one or more sperm masses at the tip, onto the ground, and using his pedipalps to guide the female over them.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Peter Weygoldt |year=1999 |title=Spermatophores and the evolution of female genitalia in whip spiders (Chelicerata, Amblypygi) |journal=[[Journal of Arachnology]] |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=103–116 |url=http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_Congress/JoA_v27_n1/arac_27_01_0103.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517002449/http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_Congress/JoA_v27_n1/arac_27_01_0103.pdf |archive-date=2008-05-17 }}</ref> She gathers the sperm and lays fertilized [[Egg (biology)|eggs]] into a sac carried under the [[abdomen]], or [[opisthosoma]]. When the young hatch, they climb up onto the mother's back; any which fall off before their first molt will not survive.

Some species of amblypygids, particularly ''[[Phrynus marginemaculatus]]'' and ''[[Damon diadema]]'', may be among the few examples of arachnids that exhibit social behavior. Research conducted at [[Cornell University]] suggests that mother amblypygids communicate with their young with her antenniform front-legs, and the offspring reciprocate both with their mother and siblings. The ultimate function of this social behavior remains unknown.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rayor|first1=Linda|title=Social Behavior in Amblypygids, and a Reassessment of Arachnid Social Patterns|journal=Journal of Arachnology|date=December 2017|volume=31|issue=12|pages=399–421|doi=10.1636/S04-23.1|s2cid=34165769|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/228950 }}</ref> Amblypygids hold territories that they defend from other individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal | author1=Chapin KJ | author2=Hill-Lindsay S | year=2015 | title=Territoriality evidenced by asymmetric intruder-holder motivation in an amblypygid | journal=[[Behavioural Processes]] | volume=122 | pages=110–115| doi=10.1016/j.beproc.2015.11.014 | pmid=26616673 | s2cid=37584495 }}</ref>

The amblypygid diet mostly consists of arthropod prey, but these opportunistic predators have also been observed feeding on vertebrates.<ref name=Chapin /> Amblypygids generally do not feed for a period of time before, during, and after molting. Like other arachnids, an amblypygid will molt several times during its life.<ref name=Chapin /> Molting is done while hanging from the underside of a horizontal surface in order to use [[gravity]] to assist in separating the old exoskeleton from the animal.