One of the more intriguing insects that we have around here is really not an insect at all: the daddy longlegs or granddaddy longlegs spider. But then it’s not a spider either. So, is it a bug? No. Then, what the hell is it? The best and entomologically correct description is “harvestman.”
Let’s back up a little. An insect is defined as a little
critter that has six legs, three segmented body parts, antennae, and wings. OK?
A spider has eight legs, eight eyes, only two body parts, no antennae or wings,
but has spinnerets (their silk-producing organ). OK? A harvestman is similar to
a spider, but does not make a web (has no spinneret), has only one body part, and
only two eyes. The harvestman is more closely related to a scorpion than a
spider—though it has neither venom nor fangs. OK? So, what’s a bug? Well, it’s
an insect (so it does has six legs)
but is distinguished from an insect by having sucking, beaklike mouthparts. OK?
Confused? So am I. It’s no wonder that we common folk have a struggle
understanding entomologists.
Let me get back to the one particular critter I started with:
the daddy longlegs… the harvestman. From any perspective, they are an
odd-looking creature, with their small, round, one-part body, supported by
incredibly long skinny legs. If its body size were as big as a human, each of
those legs would be some 50 feet long!
Harvestmen are one of the most ancient animals on the
planet—dating to some 400 million years ago. That predates the dinosaurs by a
long shot! There are over 200 species of harvestman in North America alone.
They come in many different sizes and colors, but all of them possess those
ungainly long legs. And speaking of those legs, one of them can easily detach,
if a predator attacks them and grabs a leg (which is likely to happen, given that they are mostly all leg). What’s more, the lost leg continues
to twitch on its own for several minutes, which is Mother Nature’s way of
confusing the attacker and giving the daddy longlegs a chance to run (seven-legged)
away to safety… sans one leg for the rest of its life, but alive.
There are a few other peculiarities of harvestmen, but we’ll
leave it at that for now. Well, OK… one more. Even though it has eyes (just two
of them, remember?), they can’t see much at all, so its other sensory
capabilities must make up for that loss. Mother Nature has compensated by
allowing its second pair of legs to act sort of like the eyes, nose, and tongue
on humans. Weird, eh? But remember, they have been around for nearly half a
billion years, so they’ve gotta be doing something right.
More on Granddaddy Red next time…
2 comments:
If it has eight legs, it's a spider ... maybe a lobster.
eremstin9
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