“It nearly gave me a heart attack!” says Boc Villamor, who found this unusual and frightening-looking animal on the floor of his outdoor bathroom/shower for his pool and garden area near Manila in the Philippines.

This vinegaroon was taken Aug. 27, 2013, at 8:15 p.m. in Alpine, Texas, according to the photographer, Lynette Crockett. She says, “Its body alone was a good 4 inches long, not counting tail and claws. Sent me to the top of the couch in a millisecond. I later captured it in a plastic tub and took it far away from my house to release it."

He sent the photos to KnowYourInsects.org for help identifying this creature, which he said was “4-5 inches long from the from tip of antennae to tip of tail.” Although it does indeed look like it has long antennae, those are actually its front legs, which it holds out front and uses much like antennae. It has large claws, which are curled up in these photos from Boc, but when the claws are extended, they look quite formidable.

So what is it?

That’s a vinegaroon. It’s sometimes called a whip scorpion, although it isn’t really a scorpion. The tail doesn’t deliver a sting, but this insect does release concentrated acetic acid. Vinegar is a more diluted form of acetic acid. This is why the vinegaroon can smell like vinegar … and why the word “vinegar” is in its name.

Vinegaroons live in the tropics and subtropics, including the southern United States, as seen in the other photo on this page, as well as Mexico, South America, and of course, at Boc's house in the Philippines! Boc says “my like-a-little-girl scream definitely got the neighbor’s attention.” We at KnowYourInsects.org might just have done a little screaming, too, if we'd been surprised by this creature in our bathroom!

For more information about these interesting creatures, go to http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/misc/giant_whip_scorpion.htm.

Written by Leslie Mertz.