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- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Feb 10, 2019
- Photographed: Feb 9, 2019
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Ahwatukee, AZ, Arizona, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Ground layer (leaf litter, dirt, grass, etc)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Unidentified
Picture ID 52982
This spider is missing 2 legs. Very strange that I have hiked South Mountain for 20 yrs and have never seen them before. Then I see them all over the Mountain in the last 10 days.
Your opilione will be okay with six legs. 🙂 Spiders and opiliones and other arthropods have legs that easily detach so the animal can escape when a leg gets grabbed by a predator. The legs can get stuck in the old exoskeleton when the animal molts, so they need to be able to release the leg to survive. Sometimes the leg will be able to grow back. It will be shorter, but good enough. Gecko lizards do the same thing with their tails.
Thank you! It has been fun seeing these everyone… Knowing a bit more about it.