Login
Register
Comments & ID Thoughts
I have no idea, I'm not even sure if it is a spider as it appears to have a pair of long arms on front in additional to the normal 8 legs. I'm just really curious to know what it is.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Mar 24, 2024
- Photographed: Mar 24, 2024
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Mt Taranaki, New Zealand
- Spotted Outdoors: Ground layer (leaf litter, dirt, grass, etc)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Could be a ‘Long legged Harvestman’?
Check this out: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201835588/the-arachnid-arms-race
I think you found a “male harvestman with long slender jaws”! Awesome photo!
Wonderful! Thank you. Do you know if it is a spider or something else?
Here’s an extremely detailed answer https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-ento-010814-021028
I’m learning the shorter answer. The shortest is: No, they are different Arachnids than spiders are.
Scientific classification
Domain:EukaryotaKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum:ArthropodaClade:ArachnomorphaSubphylum:ChelicerataClass:Arachnida
This is from Wikipedia
Whoa, that’s an intimidating piece or writing. I just skimmed it but now I can see the differences are obvious once you know what to look for. Not that I could see the mouth parts clearly enough in my picture. So this critter is an opilione rather than araneae.
Thank you for the link below too. I found an interesting looking critter in my house years ago that it appears was a psuedoscorpion!
That’s so cool! Thank you for helping with the ID! I didn’t know these even existed. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324726281_Taracus_aspenae_n_sp_Opiliones_Taracidae_a_new_long-jawed_harvestman_from_a_cave_in_northeastern_Oregon_USA The link is to the research publication of a new species of Long-jawed Harvestman found in Oregon, USA. The article you linked is very helpful. I think I would get along well with Dr. Painting. 🙂 There was an implication in the article that there are other known Long-jawed Orbweavers in the USA. I’m going through our unfiled photos during the slow season, we might have some photos of these. The best way I know of to see our older photos: pick a… Read more »
https://www.fws.gov/taxonomic-tree/48676 I think this is a link to the North American ones with their complete taxonomy.
Opiliones ( Harvestmen) are different from spiders physically in that they have all of their organs in one segment instead of two. They have jaws that can chew solid food. The males mate using a penis. Spiders have fangs with venom instead of jaws. They need to liquify food because there is a narrow spot, the pedicel, between their 2 body segments. Solid food would get stuck. Male spiders deposit their semen on a surface and pick it up ( like an eye dropper) with their pedipalps. The palps are near the front of the spider. The male faces the… Read more »
Yeah I noted that it didn’t have the usual segmented body but I wondered if it was just compact enough that I couldn’t really make it out.