Most species of solifuge live in dry climates and feed opportunistically on ground-dwelling arthropods and other small animals.

A number of urban legends exaggerate the size and speed of solifuges, and their potential danger to humans, which is negligible.

[3][4] In practice, the respective lengths of the legs of various species differ greatly, so the resulting figures are often misleading.

[7] As shown in the illustrations, the solifuge prosoma and opisthosoma are not separated by nearly as clear a constriction and connecting tube or "pedicel" as occurs in Araneae.

Currently, neither fossil nor embryological evidence shows that arachnids ever had a separate thorax-like division, so the validity of the term cephalothorax, which means a fused cephalon, or head, and thorax, has been questioned.

[7][9] The chelicerae of many species are surprisingly strong; they are capable of shearing hair or feathers from vertebrate prey or carrion, and of cutting through skin and thin bones such as those of small birds.

In normal locomotion, they do not quite touch the ground, but are held out to detect obstacles and prey; in that attitude, they look particularly like an extra pair of legs or perhaps arms.

Reflecting the great dependence of the Solifugae on their tactile senses, their anterior true legs commonly are smaller and thinner than the posterior three pairs.

That smaller anterior pair acts largely in a sensory role as a supplement to the pedipalps, and in many species they accordingly lack tarsi.

At the tips of their pedipalps, Solifugae bear a membranous suctorial organ, which are used for capturing prey, and also for bringing water to their mouthparts for drinking and climbing smooth surfaces.

The flagella, which bend back over the chelicerae, are sometimes called horns and are believed to have some sexual connection, but their function has not yet been clearly explained.

[19]: 68  These eyes have a pigment-cup structure and are covered by a domed outer lens made from the animal's exoskeleton.

[7]: 68–69  Below the dome is the animal's retina, a multi-tiered structure with a layer of cells called the vitreous body at its top.

[7]: 68  Underneath is the thin preretinal membrane, acting as a barrier between the vitreous body above and the rhabdomeres beneath.

[7]: 68 Most solifuges live in tropics and subtropical deserts in the Americas, Southern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Transitory species spend most of their time up the surface, occasionally seeking refuge in cracks or under rocks and vegetation.

[7]: 132  This includes other arachnids like spiders, scorpions, and smaller solifuges, other arthropods like millipedes, and small lizards, birds, and mammals.

These include seeing movements with their eyes, feeling with their long hairlike setae, smelling with their malleoli, and sensing vibrations.

[7]: 152  While all hunt on the ground, some species are great climbers, able to search for prey on trees, shrubs, and on artificial structures.

[7]: 157  When the pedipalps are used, prey is initially caught with the limb's suction cups, then rapidly pulled towards the chelicerae to be chewed.

[4] The Solifugae undergo a number of stages including, egg, postembryo, 9–10 nymphal instars, and adults.

[21][22] Gylippidae Eremobatidae Karschiidae Galeodidae Rhagodidae Ceromidae Hexisopodidae Solpugidae Others Solifuges have been recognized as distinct taxa from ancient times.

[24] Anton August Heinrich Lichtenstein theorized in 1797 that the "mice" that plagued the Philistines in the Old Testament were Solifugae.

Similarly, British troops stationed in Libya in World War II staged fights between solifuges and scorpions.

However, no supporting studies have confirmed either statement, such as by independent detection of the glands as claimed, or the relevance of the observations, if correct.

[27] An Arizona resident developed painful lesions due to a claimed solifuge bite but could not produce a specimen for confirmation.