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Last week,
during an amazingly sunny, warm spell, the wheat in
the field beyond the garden was harvested. So it was
appropriate that I came across a harvestman. These
animals are so-named because they are most abundant at
harvest-time. They are sometimes called
daddy-long-legs but this name is also given to the
craneflies. I have also heard them called bun spiders,
which is a nice name because they are eight-legged
relatives of the true spiders, but the body is a
single unit rather than showing a distinct waist
between thorax and abdomen.
Harvestmen are
usually seen when they are disturbed by gardening
operations or wandering around bathrooms. Their
impossibly slender legs are good for traversing uneven
ground but would otherwise seem to be a liability.
However, harvestmen are predators and overpower
insects, centipedes and even spiders by pinning them
down, chewing into their bodies and sucking their
juices. After a meal the legs are cleaned by being
delicately drawn, in turn, through the jaws.
Cleanliness is especially important for the second
pair which bears the sense organs.
The harvestman
that caught my attention was notable because it was
resting on a leaf with its legs fully extended. Other
species merely lower the body to the ground. I have
since learned that this trait identifies it as Dicranopalpus
ramosus. Thirty years ago this species was
confined to the south-west but it has spread
dramatically and is now found as far north as
Yorkshire.
It was only
when I was looking at the photo that I realised that I
had found two specimens. The body of the second is
lying on the plant stem at the bottom of the picture.
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