Camel Spiders

In the Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003, U.S. servicemen supposedly passed around stories about these so-called camel spiders. According to these stories, the camel spider can "grow to be as large as dinner plates, can run up to 25 MPH and making a screaming sound as they run, and jump several feet in the air." Also accourding to the story, they got the name camel spider because they jump up on to the camels stomach and eat away at it. They also have a venomous bite that has a numbing affect, so their prey do not know that they are being eaten alive. The U.S. soldiers supposedly would be bit by these critters during the night and find chunks of there skin missing in the mourning.
According to the article, when this info was presented to a spider expert, he said all those claims are false about the camel spider. These spiders can be found in the desert regions, they do get quite large(around a five inch leg span), they make no noise, and run at speeds of 10 Mph. They are also non-venomous. The article depicts a picture of them, and they certainly are quite nasty. Jason
www.snopes.com