Harvestmen Spider

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harvestmen, opiliones, arachnids, rainforest
A harvestment in the rainforest.

Although they look a lot like spiders with their four pair of legs, this arachnid belongs to a different order known as Opiliones. Like spiders, their body also consists of two parts. However, unlike spiders, the region between the front and the rear part is not constricted, making the body appear as a single unit.

spider, arachnid
A spider is also an arachnid.

Harvestmen derive their name from the fact that they are abundant during the harvest season in England, and possibly because of their leg’s reaction when it broken off from the body resemble a farmer’s scythe movement. Harvestmen lack silk gland but they have scent gland that emits foul smell especially when threatened by potential enemies. For this reason, they are also known as stink bug in parts of south America.

harvestmen spider, opiliones, arachnid
A harvestmen on the underside of a leave.

Harvestmen are unique among arachnids, which not only includes the spiders but also mites, ticks and scorpions, for having an omnivorous diet instead of primarily carnivorous. Their diet comprised of insects, decaying material like dung or rotten fruit. In contrast to spiders that drink the body fluid of their prey, harvestmen feed by biting off tiny pieces and swallow them.

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