Friday, August 21, 2009

Daddy Longlegs












Or Harvestmen, of the order Opiliones, named in 1833 by Swedish Naturalist Karl Sundevall. No one seems to know why he invoked the Latin for shepherd, Opilio. They've changed little in the last 400 million years. Just think, all that time without a name.

Not spiders, these arthropods have only one body part, making them walking cephalopds. But I understand the Greek for "head-feet" has been claimed by those swimming head-feet, the Octopi and their mullosk kin.

This unidentified member of Opiliones is one of many seen on the slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain in Raymond, Maine. If anyone has seen one in Brooklyn, I'd love to know. I never have.

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