Harvestmen (Phalangium opilio)
Observation
I observed this opiliones on 17 September 2011 while attending the Wildlife Conservation Festival at the John Heinz National Refuge Center in Philadelphia, PA. While walking the trail with my classmates, Dr. Rob picked up the opiliones and placed it on the sleeve of his jacket. It stayed still long enough for a picture to be taken. After I took the photo, it tried to escape. I noticed that it had six long legs but I assume a few were missing.
Questions
What do harvestmen eat? How does it reproduce? Where does it lay eggs?
Scientific Research
Machado, Glauco and Oliveira, Paulo. Reproductive Biology of the Neotropical Harvestman, Journal of Zoology, Vol. 246 (Apr., 1998), pp. 359-367.
Opiliones are often active at night as they are nocturnal and photophobic. They are omnivores so their diet may include aphids, beetles, flies, earthworms, rotting plants, fungi and animal matter. Opiliones reproduce through copulation and some species may reproduce through a process called parthenogenesis. The female lays her eggs in various places such as soil, trunk crevices, under stones and other moist places.
Harvestmen, often mistaken for spiders, is from the same class as a spider (Arachnida), but is in the order of Opiliones. Harvestmen are notably different from the spider because their two body segments are fused together so it appears as one segment. They also can't form webs due to the lack of silk glands. When compared to the size of its body, the walking legs are considerably long.
Further Research
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