What could be creepier than a normal viper? A viper with a tail that mimics a real spider. This species of viper endemic is fortunately only found in western Iran. The specific name, urarachnoides refers to this snake’s spider-like tail tip, as does the common name, spider-tailed horned viper. It was known since the 1960s, but the one specimen’s tail was dismissed as a tumor or deformity. Continue reading for another video and more pictures.
“The tail is bizarre. If you saw a close-up photo of it, you’d struggle to believe that there was a snake at the other end. There’s a large orange or grey bulb at the tip, and the scales just before that are bizarrely long and thin. Together, these features look a bit like the legs and abdomen of a spider or their close relatives, the solpugids or ‘camel spiders’,” according to Whyevolutionistrue.
