The ‘deer-killer’ beetle

The Mexica pinauhuiztli beetle

Do you remember the Mexica beliefs surrounding the pinauhuiztli, or chafer beetle? (“Ask the Experts”, December 2005)? Ethnozoologist Matthew McDavitt has kindly identified it for us...

Dr. McDavitt has written to us pointing out that, according to a list of modern-day Náhuatl words for anthropods from the State of Guerrero, pinawistli is the name given to what we variously call a camel spider, wind scorpion, or sun spider, belonging to the Solifugae family*. This means it does not like the sun and comes out to feed mainly at night (main pic).
Dr. McDavitt then compared it to images of the pinauhuiztli insect in the codices (pictures 1 and 2) and was able to confirm that it is one and the same. The similarities between these images and the real thing are very striking.

As arachnids go, it is quite large and, according to Dr. McDavitt, it moves very quickly on six of its eight legs. The other two (at the front) serve as sensors which it uses to feel out its path. Despite its size, rather ferocious appearance, and a fearsome reputation (in Mexico today it is also known as matavenados – “deer killer”!), it is not venomous but kills its prey (usually other insects or small lizards) by scooping them up and crushing them between its huge jaws. Quite the little warrior of the insect world! It is hardly surprising that the Mexica viewed it with such awe.

*Dr. Jonathan D. Amith, Náhuatl Learning Environment, entry pi:na:wistli; identified as Solifugae by A. Ballesteros of the Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico (go to www.balsas-nahuatl.org); also known as i:na:n ko:lo:tl (‘mother of scorpions’).

Special thanks to Dr. Eleanor Wake, Dr. Matthew McDavitt, Dr. Arthur Anker and Dr. Jonathan Amith.

Picture sources:-
• Main picture: A camel spider in New Mexico. Photo courtesy of Dr. Arthur Anker
• Pic 1: The pinauhuiztli, detail from the Codex Borbonicus (folio 3), scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1974
• Pic 2: The beetle as a design on a ritual cloak named for the Lord of Death, detail from the Codex Magliabechiano (folio 3r), scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1970

‘Ask the Experts’ December 2005, answer by Dr. Eleanor Wake

Comments (6)

Cassie

27th Nov 2024

In the December 2005 article it says that pinauhuiztli could fly, is there an explanation of why the codex would say the bug could fly if it is a camel spider which cannot? Is pinauhuiztli perhaps a combination of multiple bugs?

Mexicolore

Good question. We suspect there’s a bit of misinterpretation/mistranslation going on here. In her Dec 2005 answer Dr. Wake talks of “flying at his head, or ‘buzzing’ him”. She is interpreting ‘buzzing’ colloquially as flying. The translators of the Florentine Codex simply say ‘Then it buzzed him’. We’re not Nahuatl experts, but the root of the word in the Codex is tlatzin(i), which according to Frances Kartunnen’s highly respected ‘Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl’ means ‘to make an explosive sound’. So presumably the creature simply made an aggressive buzzing sound - but didn’t fly!

Kathy

4th Jul 2020

Im here in Nogales, Sonora Mexico visiting family and we just saw one walk in the living room. I would like to know what would it do to pets if anything?

Ron Acker

27th Feb 2014

My friend Lance A. found one of these about 9 feet from the front door where he is staying in Nogales, AZ. How dangerous are they to humans? What happens to someone if they get bitten? Swelling? Infection? Death?

John Riley

3rd Nov 2012

That’s a very weird spider. In the codex, it looks like a regular spider, but the first picture shows an almost scorpion-like arachnid.

Fernando

10th May 2012

Hi! On “Ask the Experts” December 2005 question, its stated that the pinahualiztli bettle “would confront a person by flying at his head, or ‘buzzing’ him” and in the Spanish translation it is said that “Lo conocemos mejor como mayate o escarabajos de mayo”. The mayate is clearly a different insect than the “pinawistli or mata venanos” pictured above. Does this mean Sahaguns informants and tlacuilos made an error when identifying the beetle? Thanks for all the great work!

Mexicolore

Well pointed out! We think this is an error introduced by our translator into Spanish, so we’ve removed that bit in Spanish altogether from the 2005 answer, and simply left the term ‘escarabajo’.

tecpaocelotl

11th Mar 2010

I was wondering what it was in the codex. This whole time I thought it was a regular spider. LOL.

The Mexica pinauhuiztli beetle