The book scorpion, Chelifer cancroides, is a tiny beast but it is hard to think of another creature that is such a friend to humankind. It eats book lice, ants, mites, clothes moths and bed bug larvae – pests that most people would not welcome in their homes.
Although looking like a scorpion it kills its prey with venom stored in its claws, not its tail, and is closer to a spider in origin. It has eight legs and is otherwise known as a false scorpion.
