This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have a spindly spidery critter with a superstitious reputation, the Harvestmen of order Opiliones.
Harvestmen are arthropods with quite the folklore surrounding them. I can recall quite a few childhood tales about them. Chief in my memory is how they’re supposed to be the deadliest spider around, save that their fangs are too small to puncture your skin. In contrast to this playground lore of yore, I’m here today to tell you the truths about this interesting arachnid.
Harvestmen belong to the order Opiliones within the Arachnida class. They share no close relation with spiders and are actually most closely related to Scorpions. They’re common throughout our forests and woodlands and often found huddled together in shady crooks of porches and barns. Although they come in many shapes and sizes, their general appearance is distinct and unmistakable. I won’t even pretend that I comprehend their diverse phylogeny but I believe the genus Leiobunum is the clade most of us will recall when imagining the Harvestmen of the Lowcountry; a round pale-brown body composed of a single segment supported in midair on eight articulated wispy legs. Each barely bristle-thick appendage arcing upward from the fringes of that egg-shaped center. Peering ever closer we can see a tiny cluster of beady little eyes front and center, on what passes for a head, and a pair of tiny pincers for a mouth.
Harvestmen move with either a jittering, bouncy gate or a slow purposeful walk, elongated middle limbs out stretched ahead as they feel their way forward. They have a wide and varied diet that differs between species. Most are omnivorous, some are predatory, and others scavengers. They eat their food, alive or dead, animal or vegetable, by picking it apart with their tiny pincer-like mouthparts. Harvestmen are wholly nonvenomous by the way and completely harmless to humans. However, they will release foul smelling chemicals if handled roughly. They also employ autonomy to escape from danger, shedding their wiry legs if they become ensnared. This is a costly move as Harvestmen cannot regrow their limbs and is why you’ll often find them down a leg or two.
