Opiliones macro photos

[syndicate]

hello,
heres some shots I took this week.I haven't tried to Id the species yet but if anyone knows what they are feel free to let me know ;]
this was my first time shooting these with my new camera.pretty cool subject and there everywhere around here.

 

[cjm1991]

Theres a ton of them around here also. cool pix

 

[OTwolfe]

we always have just called them "Daddy Longlegs." Not very helpful I know. I'd be interested in know exactly what they're called and what they eat.

 

[Eclipse]

They are omnivores

"eating primarily small insects and all kinds of plant material and fungi; some are scavengers, feeding upon dead organisms, bird dung and other fecal material. This broad range is quite unusual in arachnids, which are usually pure predators. Most hunting harvestmen ambush their prey, although active hunting is also found. Because their eyes cannot form images, they use their second pair of legs as antennae to explore their environment. Also unlike most other arachnids, harvestmen do not have a sucking stomach and a filtering mechanism, but ingest small particles of their food, thus making them vulnerable to internal parasites, such as gregarines."

I always wanted one of these, but they don't live in the city areas here.

 

[Malhavoc's]

They are omnivores



I always wanted one of these, but they don't live in the city areas here.

When I lived in cali I found them easily (riverside) jut flip rockers or moist areas, like under sidings on the sides of house, or bush areas. they usualy group together

 

[syndicate]

yeah there everywhere here.some get pretty large to.er well there legs are pretty large hehe.i got some more pics this afternoon.will up them tonight if i get a chance

 

[Eclipse]

I've been from LA to Bakersfield and I never found one in my life. I guess they don't dwell in industrial city areas.

 

[Sabatta]

Those are really good photos. They are so alien looking up close.

 

[Moltar]

Those are the best pics i've ever seen of one of those. They're everywhere here in MD too. The rumor about their highly toxic venom is of course false. They don't even have venom...

 

[Demon187]

this is not a spider but a harvestman, from the order Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) in the class Arachnida, there have been over 6000 species of harvestman recorded worldwide. Their closest relatives may be the mites (Acari) or the Novogenuata (the Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones and Solifugae). they are arachnids but not spiders, although they are often mistaken for them. if you look closely at the pic you can see the remnents of the segments like on a scorpion. they have no venom glands or silk glands which is one of the main differences between the spiders and harvestman. other differences include the two main body sections (the abdomen with ten segments and cephalothorax, or prosoma and opisthosoma) are nearly joined, so that they appear to be one oval structure.

They do not have book lungs, and breathe through tracheae only. most interesting of all is....They have a gonopore on the ventral cephalothorax, and the copulation is direct as the male has a PENIS (while the female has an ovipositor). All species lay eggs.

most species are omnivores eating insects and different plant material and fungi, whilst some are scavengers feeding on dead organisms, bird feaces and other fecal matter.
there main defense is to discard a leg which continues to move or twitch to distract the attention of the predator so he can make a hasty retreat.

 

[syndicate]

thanks for the comments guys!and also thanks for that little bit of info demon.there pretty interesting bugs.def remind me alot of the scorpions with the way there eyes are set.more pics to come soon!just need to stop being lazy and edit them up hehe

 

[8+)]

Don't the eyes in the last close up make it look like some Jules Verne created ground transport?

Nice Pics!:clap:

 

[syndicate]

haha there def interesting lookin guys up close.thanks!

 

[tarcan]

Great pics!

We need to see more opilionids for sure!

Take care

Martin

 

[Greyhalo]

Here are some Opiliones photos I took today.