27-Mar-2026
Surprise in #amber: exotic harvestmen once lived in Europe
#arachnid order #opiliones aka #DaddyLongLegs
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1121689
#science #ecology #evolution #arthropods #fossils
Check out this outrageous NZ harvestman photographed by sebastiandoak earlier this month near Charleston on the west coast of the South Island.
It's called Algidia viridata ssp. bicolor (yes, another incredible endemic NZ invertebrate still lacking a catchy common name). I've never seen one […]
A little strip of Beech woodland beside a green field with thick woodland in the background. The trees are bare branched with smooth grey-green trunks and there is a deep carpet of red-brown dead leaves beneath them.
The underside of a dark grey log with holes in it and a greyish-brown harvestman with spiny legs sprawled out on it.
Close-up of the harvestmen showing a dark and light chequerboard pattern on its back with two rows of blunt spines running down it. The eyes are dark and quite small. The body is rather flattened and the legs are very spiny.
An unprepossessing little strip of Beech woodland in Norfolk that I visited yesterday. Turned over a log and low and behold, there was only my second ever Norfolk Homalenotus quadridentatus! #arachnids #opiliones #harvestman
New research in #RESSystematicEnt
#Biogeography of the widespread #Aotearoa #NewZealand mite harvester genus #Rakaia (#Arachnida, #Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi) based on #UCE-derived subgenomic data
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70021
#Phylogeny #Phylogenetics
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social
A small, matt black harvestman with two pale spots set towards the front of the body just behind and to the side of the ocularium. It is sitting hunched up with its legs pulled in on the underside of a light brown piece of wood.
A strikingly marked harvestman with a large ocularium with a ridge of blunt tubercles over the eyes. The body is brown with a darker broad rectangular patch (the saddle) down the middle which has numerous pale spots across it. The sides are lighter, also with pale spots. The legs are pale with dark rings. The harvestman is sitting on a brown plastic tray with some bits of dark brown leaf debris as it was sieved from leaf litter.
Took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and cycled out to Ladybelt Country Park yesterday and found two species of harvestmen - Nemastoma bimaculatum and Rilaena triangularis. #arachnids #opiliones #harvestmen
A male Dicranopalpus larvatus on a pale piece of wood. The harvestman has a black and white body, dark legs and eyes and forked pedipalps.
A female Dicranopalpus larvatus on a piece of wet wood. Her body is a purplish-brown colour with some light spots. Her eyes are dark and she has forked pedipalps.
A little wander round Earlham Cemetery in Norwich today produced 5 species of harvestman including these two Dicranopalpus larvatus which were found under fallen branches. #harvestmen #opiliones #arachnids
Paroligolophus agrestis on a gravestone. A fairly short-legged harvestman with a smooth pale ocularium and a pinkish body with the saddle outlined with black blotches.
Juvenile Rilaena triangularis on the underside of a piece of wood. This harvestman has a very large ocularium and the body is mottled brown with white spots.
Opilio canestrinii on a gravestone. This is quite a pale individual, almost pinkish with paired dark and light bars on the abdomen. The trochanters are pale and it has long legs.
Dicranopalpus sp male on a gravestone. It has a small dark body with long legs held out at right angles. This one looks like Dicranopalpus caudatus but it would need to be dissected to be sure.
A little wander round Earlham Cemetery in Norwich today produced 5 species of harvestman, 4 shown here. It was rather chilly and we had snow lying just a couple of days ago - shows how hardy these arachnids are. IDs in alt text. #harvestmen #opiliones #arachnids
Californian Trap Door Spider burrow: image thanks to Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
For day 15 of our #Advent Calendar, we're diversifying from winter #spiders to include #harvestmen #Opiliones....
One day one of these #VC55 specimens is going to turn out to be something other than Dicranopalpus ramosus senu stricto...
#Arachnids #Opiliones #macro #OlympusTG6 #Arachtober
A harvestman: it has 8 legs, but it's not a spider. It's one of the Opiliones, and doesn't make a web, or even produce silk. And it has no fangs or venom; it's a scavenger, not a predator. The body is all one piece, cephalothorax and abdomen united in a boxy body without a waist. This one, in sunlight, is brown on top with a black patch, cream on the bottom half. It "flies" over an air plant, held up on its extremely long legs. The leg joints where they meet the body are black, so are the knees.
Walking on stilts. A Harvestman, also called "Daddy Long Legs" Arachtober 2025, Day 16. www.flickr.com/photos/wande... #Arachtober2025 #Arachnids #Harvestmen #Opiliones #Invertebrates
A macro picture of a harvestman sitting on my hand
Another picture of a harvestman sitting on my hand
Big baby :)
It's always a delight when i see daddy long legs chilling around my house
#arachnids #opiliones #photography
Paroligolophus agrestis female
Whole lotta Paroligolophus agrestis out there at present.
#Arachnids #Opiliones #VC55 #Arachtober
Photograph of a harvestman arachnid on a leaf.
Another photo of the harvestman on a leaf.
Photograph of a rock face beside a creekbed with a wattle flowering. This is where the harvestman was.
Photograph of a track through orange rocks with some shrubs. This is only a few hundred meters from where the harvestman was.
Dry creekbeds are often ignored but they can have really amazing and unexpected species! My second favourite thing I saw last year (after the Synamphisophus) was this very unexpected Triaenobunus in a dry creekbed in the semi arid Ikara Flinders Ranges. #opiliones #harvestmen #arachnid
A harvestman, possible Phalangium sp., sitting on the outside wall of a building. The chelicerae on this specimen seem very pronounced.
An animal that I feared as a kid: The harvestman.
Interestingly, they aren't spiders! They neither have the ability to inject venom nor produce any type of silk. A 'typical' thing for spiders.
They are completely harmless to humans 😌
#arachnids #inverts
#opiliones #LegsForDays
Megabunus diadema
The Hidden World of Harvestmen – A Talk by Alan Cann – 25th September 2025 7.30pm:
knightonwild.org.uk/2025/09/08/t...
#Arachnids #Spiders #VC55 #Opiliones
🕷️ Manolo Mármol, biólogo de la Asociación Iberozoa, nos descubre en Onda Cero Madrid Norte (100.1fm) los opiliones, un tipo de arácnidos poco conocidos
#Arañas #Opiliones #Naturaleza
www.madridnorte24horas.com/articulo/pod...
If asexuals are doomed💀 but sex is costly⚡️ Why aren’t flexible strategies more common? 🤷♀️ Maybe it’s a trap!
We review #SexualConflict in facultative parthenogens 🐛🕷️🦐🦎 and how it might help explain the paradox of sex
#Evolution #Parthenogenesis #StickInsects #Opiliones
A harvestman has successfully risen up to the roof without getting squished. It was carefully carried back down the ladder and released in the garden.
A close up of the Opilione Odiellus spinosus on a dark grey tiles.
Getting towards the external parts of Mega #DIY project. I calculated that I have carried a metric ton of new tiles up there today (12kg or 26lb at a time).
New dark grey tiles heat up in the sun & store the warmth. Lots of Odiellus spinosus had moved in between the tiles.
#Opiliones
#Harvestman
Leiobunum rotundum male
Leiobunum rotundum male.
#Arachnids #Opiliones #VC55 #macrophotography #macro #OMSystem
Ein Streckfuß-Weberknecht (Dicranopalpus ramosus) in seitlicher Makroaufnahme während der Beinpflege. Das kleine Spinnentier hängt an seinen charakteristisch langen, dünnen Beinen und putzt mit seinen Cheliceren (Mundwerkzeugen) ein Bein. Der weißlich-transparente, kompakte Körper zeigt deutlich die typischen anatomischen Merkmale der Art. Die extrem verlängerten Beine, insbesondere das zweite Beinpaar, erstrecken sich weit in alle Richtungen und verleihen dem Tier seine charakteristische spinnenartige Erscheinung. Im warmen Hintergrund sind unscharfe natürliche Strukturen erkennbar, die den natürlichen Lebensraum des Weberknechts unterstreichen.
Frontale Nahaufnahme eines Dicranopalpus ramosus. Der Weberknecht zeigt seine charakteristische beige-bräunliche Färbung mit deutlich erkennbaren dunklen Querstreifen auf dem segmentierten Körper. Die beiden kleinen, schwarzen Punktaugen sind als dunkle Flecken auf dem Augenhügel zu sehen. Besonders bemerkenswert sind die kräftigen, orangebraun gefärbten Cheliceren und Palpen, mit denen das Tier seine Beute festhalten und verarbeiten kann. Die acht langen Beine zeigen die typischen Proportionen der Art, wobei einige Beinenden orange-bräunlich gefärbt sind. Der natürliche Hintergrund ist in warmen Erdtönen unscharf gehalten.
Schräge Makroaufnahme eines Dicranopalpus ramosus auf einem natürlichen Steinuntergrund. Der Weberknecht zeigt seine typische braun-beige Grundfärbung mit den charakteristischen dunklen Querstreifenmustern auf dem Körper. Die beiden schwarzen Punktaugen sind deutlich erkennbar, ebenso wie die orangebraun gefärbten Mundwerkzeuge und Palpenenden. Das Tier steht auf seinen charakteristisch langen, segmentierten Beinen, die in alle Richtungen abstehen. Der raue Steinuntergrund mit seiner grau-beigen Färung zeigt den natürlichen Lebensraum dieser Weberknechtart und bietet eine perfekte Tarnung für das kleine Spinnentier.
Draufsicht auf einen Dicranopalpus ramosus auf einer strukturierten Steinoberfläche. Diese Perspektive zeigt optimal die symmetrische Anordnung aller acht Beine und die kompakte, ovale Körperform. Der braun-beige gefärbte Körper weist die typischen dunklen Querstreifen und eine feine Oberflächenstruktur auf. Die extrem langen, dünnen Beine erstrecken sich radial vom kleinen Körper weg und zeigen die charakteristischen Segmentierungen. Besonders gut erkennbar sind die verlängerten zweiten Beinpaare, die der Art ihren Namen "Streckfuß" verleihen. Der natürliche Steinuntergrund mit seiner rauen Textur bietet dem Weberknecht eine perfekte Tarnung in seinem natürlichen Habitat.
Den Streckfuß (Dicranopalpus ramosus), eine Weberknecht-Art, findet man auf Bäumen und Gebüschen, in der Krautschicht, aber auch in Gärten. Er ist an den auffällig langen, gegabelten Pedipalpen erkennbar.
#opiliones #harvestmen #natur #artenvielfalt #nature #weberknechte #Spinnentiere #Arachnida
Nice #harvestmen, Leiobunum blackwalli (PL łabuń białooki).
Kicin, Wielkopolska (western Poland).
#kosarze #Opiliones #Arachnida #arachnology
🕷️ Exciting news
We describe a newly examined harvestman (Opiliones) specimen, adding to the knowledge of this fascinating arachnid group. Every new record helps refine our understanding of their diversity, evolution, and biogeography 🌍
Check it out here 👉
#Opiliones #Biodiversity #Taxonomy
Some species of Opiliones or harvestman crawling on my hand
Some species of Opiliones or harvestman crawling on my hand
Friendly little woodland fella. He would NOT stay still for a photo!
#bugsky #opiliones
Dorsal view of chunky Olilione or harvestman .
Anterior view of Opilione or harvestman on wood.
Set free the harvestman or Opilione makes its way across the lawn, keeping a beady eye on me.
Hi @vannabartlett.bsky.social please can you help me identify this #Opilione ?
Short legs apart from pair 2 against a really chunky body. Found in some scrap wood to be recycled but rescued and set free.
#harvestmen
#opiliones
#invertebrates
#gardenwildlife
Is there a collective noun for #Opiliones? Here is a clump of male Leiobunum rotundum seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes, 12/08/25 @megabunus.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social
