Phalangium opilio
Harvestmen, also called
Daddy Longlegs, are not spiders, but they are close
relatives. A Harvestman body grows
to 1/4 inch long. Unlike spiders, which have two main body
sections, Harvestmen only have one. It does have eight legs
like a spider, but its are much longer. The Harvestman also
has a little knob on its head with two eyes. Harvestmen live in
fields
and forests.
They can climb tree trunks or look for food on the
ground. Harvestmen do not have
venom
glands like spiders, but they do eat insects and other small
creatures. Black Hawk
College Joe Ogrodnick Female Harvestmen lay
eggs in moist soil, often under rocks or logs. They have a
small needle-like part, called an ovipositor,
that sticks out from their bodies. Females use their
ovipositors to inject eggs into the soil. The eggs survive through
Winter and hatch in the Spring, when it is warm
enough. Harvestmen grow very
slowly. Only one batch of eggs is laid each year.
Copyright, Hays Cummins, http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/html/
Harvestmen eat a wide
variety of foods, including: aphids, caterpillars,
leafhoppers, beetles, flies, mites, small slugs, snails,
earthworms, spiders, other harvestmen, decaying
plant and animal matter, bird poop, fungus gills,
and many types of other insects, both adult
and larval
forms. Predators
include birds and many of the same creatures that eat
spiders. Harvetmen release a
foul-smelling odor as a defense against
predators. Mark
Schmaedick
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