Harvestmen Daddy Longlegs

A short sequence showing the Harvestman, a creature belonging to the Class Arachnida but it is not a spider even though it has 8 legs. If you like this video you can see more of my work at
http://www.sciencephoto.com/search?subtype=contributors&searchstring=F9C&...
Fossils have been found that date these creatures back to approximately 400 million years ago. Their second pair of legs are antennae and you can see this Harvestman cleaning one of these antennae. You will also see that unlike spiders, this Harvestman only has one pair of eyes located dorsally. Other less obvious features that set them apart from spiders are that they do not use book lungs like spiders for breathing and they do not possess silk glands nor are they venomous. However they can emit a foul smelling chemical from dorsally located glands at the anterior margin of the carapace Different species of Harvestmen emit different chemical compounds of which at least 7 are known If threatened they can also autonomize (lose) a leg which will twitch for a while to distract it's enemy allowing the Harvestmen to make good it's escape. It is estimated that between 2000 to 3000 species remain to be described.
Reference: Secret Weapons Eisner et al. 2005 Harvard University Press.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Harvestmen
• daddy longlegs
• Opiliones
• Arachnida
• arthropods
• fossil records
• biodiversity
• environment
• Harvestaman
• Education

[bdvezina1]

Amazing videos. Please keep making them!

[patwerm]

Nice camera work, wat for a equipment you utilizze?

Tanks, see you, keep it up