Essential Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on
Harvestmen.
Harvestmen: Keys and Notes for the Identification of the Species by P.D. Hillyard
British Harvestmen: Arachnida, Opiliones: Keys and Notes for the Identification of the Species by John Sankey
Opiliones(Redirected from Harvestmen)
Opiliones
Scientific Classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Arachnida
Order:Opiliones
The Phalangids or Opiliones, (better known as "harvestmen" or "daddy longlegs") are eight-legged invertebrate animals belonging to the order Opiliones in the class Arachnida, in the subphylum Chelicerata of the phylum Arthropoda.
The name "daddy longlegs" can also refer to insects in two other orders: the crane fly (Tipulidae) and the cellar spider (Pholcidae).
Physical description
These harmless arachnids are known for their exceptionally long walking legs, compared to body size. The difference between harvestmen and spiders is that in harvestmen the two main body sections (the prosoma and opisthosoma) are nearly joined, so that they appear to be one structure. They have two eyes, oriented sideways. They have scent glands that secrete a peculiar smelling fluid when disturbed. Harvestmen do not have poison or silk glands.
Most species live for a year or two.
Behavior
Many species are omnivorous, eating primarily small insects; some are scavengers. Mating involves direct copulation, rather than the deposition of a spermatophore.
A poisonous myth
There is an urban legend claiming that the daddy longlegs is the most poisonous spider in the world, only its fangs are too small to bite a human, and is thus not actually dangerous. This is untrue on several counts. First, phalangids are not spiders, and secondly, they don't have any poison glands at all!
As of 2000, over 5,000 species of Phalangids have been described worldwide.
The above article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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