Sizes from 5 mm to 4.5 cm. The color is dark, reddish or yellowish. The body is flattened. The cephalothorax is wide, with a pair of medial and 2-3 pairs of lateral eyes. Abdomen 12-segmented, without caudal thread; hence the name of the detachment - Amblypygi in Greek means "stupid ass." Chelicerae short, with hooked segment at end. Pedipalps large, grasping, also with hook-shaped terminal segments. The legs are long, up to 25 cm; in some species, suction cups are developed at the ends of the paws, allowing movement on smooth vertical surfaces. The longest are the front legs, whose legs look like flexible multi-segmented bundles, similar to insect antennas. The frins have significant resemblance to spiders , but they have neither poisonous nor spider glands. Despite the awesome appearance, these creatures are harmless to humans. Falling under a bright light, the freeze freezes, flattening, but if you touch it, hurries away. The frins usually move sideways, like crabs . At the same time, one “antennae” is directed in the direction of movement, and the other continuously feels the surroundings.
They are found in the tropics and subtropics. The frins are hygrophilous, therefore they almost do not leave the borders of forests, where during the day they hide under plant debris, lagged bark and cracked stones. Some species are found in termite mounds. In cave dwellers (some species of Phrynichus ) lateral eyes are reduced.
The frins are predominantly nocturnal predators; insects , including termites , serve as their food. Prey is seized by pedipalps and is torn apart by the claw-like segments of chelicera and pedipalps. The frins willingly drink water.
The mating ritual consists in the fact that the male leads the female to the postponed spermatophore with pedipalps. Females lay up to 60 eggs, which are carried under the abdomen in a parchment-like shell. Young fish move to the mother’s back; if a young frin falls from the back to its first molt, the female eats it. After molting, the young frins disperse. Puberty usually occurs only at 3 years of age.
Fragments of the cuticle were discovered in Middle Devonian sediments, presumably as remnants of frins. The oldest indisputable findings of the detachment come from deposits of the Late Carboniferous period of Europe and North America, from which five species of frins were described [2] .
There are 136 species of frins in 21 genera and 5 families [3] [4] .
- Squad Amblypygi Thorell, 1883
- Suborder Euamblypygi Weygoldt, 1996
- Superfamily Charinoidea Quintero, 1986
- Charinidae Quintero Family , 1986
- Genus Catageus Thorell, 1889 (1 species)
- Genus Charinus Simon, 1892 (33 species)
- Genus Sarax Simon, 1892 (10 species)
- Superfamily Charontoidea Simon, 1892
- Charontidae Simon Family , 1892
- Genus Charon Karsch, 1879 (5 species)
- Genus Stygophrynus Kraepelin, 1895 (7 species)
- Superfamily Phrynoidea Blanchard, 1852
- Family Phrynichidae Simon, 1892
- Genus Xerophrynus Weygoldt, 1996
- Subfamily Damoninae Simon, 1936
- Genus Damon CL Koch, 1850 (10 species)
- Genus Musicodamon Fage, 1939 (1 species)
- Genus Phrynichodamon Weygoldt, 1996 (1 species)
- Subfamily Phrynichinae Simon, 1892
- Genus Euphrynichus Weygoldt, 1995 (2 species)
- Genus Phrynichus Karsch, 1879 (16 species)
- Genus Trichodamon Mello-Leitão, 1935 (2 species)
- Family Phrynidae Blanchard, 1852
- Subfamily Heterophryninae Pocock, 1902
- Genus Heterophrynus Pocock, 1894 (14 species)
- Subfamily Phryninae Blanchard, 1852
- Genus Acanthophrynus Kraepelin, 1899 (1 species)
- Genus † Electrophrynus Patrunkevich, 1971 (1 species; Late Oligocene - Early Miocene )
- Genus Paraphrynus Moreno, 1940 (18 species)
- Genus Phrynus Lamarck, 1801 (28 species, Oligocene - present)
- Suborder Paleoamblypygi Weygoldt, 1996
- Family Paracharontidae Weygoldt, 1996
- Genus † Graeophonus Scudder, 1890 (2-3 species, Carboniferous ) [5]
- Genus Paracharon Hansen, 1921
- incertae sedis
- Genus † Sorellophrynus Harvey, 2002 (1 species, Late Carboniferous)
- Genus † Thelyphrynus Petrunkevich, 1913 (1 species, Late Carboniferous)
In the film adaptation of " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire " Three Forbidden Spells were shown on a large, about 10 cm, freeze. Unlike the movie, in the book spells were shown on three different spiders.
