Is This Creature Coming to Take Over Lubbock?

There was a camel spider sighting this week in Lubbock, which begs the question: "Are there many more of these around?"

My wife saw one of these creatures and was very curious what it was. It seemed to be half-spider and half-scorpion.

According to Livescience, came spiders are arachnids, but not spiders. They are non-venomous, even though their bites can certainly leave a mark.

Most people believe camel spiders came from the Middle East, but according to camelspider.org, they also live in North America, throughout the Southwest and even in the plains of the Upper Midwest.

The website also dispels some myths about the camel spider. Yes, they can grow fairly large, but not anywhere near the size of a dinner plate as some suggest. In the Middle East they are known to "chase" people, but in reality they are simply trying to stay in the person's shadow. They also make a hissing sound that people have misunderstood. It's actually a sound that is made in a similar way that crickets and grasshoppers make their distinct sounds.

So to put your mind at ease, camel spiders are fairly harmless, so we shouldn't have a situation like that depicted in the 2012 movie Camel Spiders.