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Who did name daddy long legs? How does daddy long legs make a life? This is not like grasshopping... I don't like daddy long legs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.175.141.240 ( talk) 05:26, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
The article states in the Etymology section: "The Swedish naturalist, Karl Sundevall, first used the term Opiliones in 1833, and derived from the Latin 'opilio', meaning 'sheep-master' or 'shepherd', although the sense of the allusion is unclear." (Harvestmen - Glauco Machado, Gonzalo Giribet).
While it is useful to know the Latin derivation, the inclusion of the statement "although the sense of the allusion is unclear" shows that the author(s) of that statement have never taken the time to observe a true shepherd in action (one with only a staff and no work dogs to assist), else the allusion would be obvious.
I suggest either removal of the "although the sense of the allusion is unclear" statement, or an additional quote from some source that has better insight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.212.45.234 ( talk) 23:55, 27 June 2009 (UTC)
The photo labeled "Leiobunum politum" is actually Hadrobunus grandis. Note that femur I is much shorter than the length of the body, which is diagnostic for the genus. The unlabeled figure is a male Phalangium opilio.
What would be really helpful is if it mentioned somewhere where on earth these things are found...
I live in northeast Florida and the longlegs used to be very common. During the summer there were numerous individuals or small groups clustered on shady walls.They never seemed to be doing anything at all. This was 20-25 years ago and I cannot recollect the last time I encountered one, but I saw no mention of this geographical area in the "Endangered" section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.92.79.239 ( talk) 16:36, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
This article failed the GA noms due to lack of references. Tarret 21:14, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
What is the singular of Opiliones? Is it Opilione? Or Opiliones?
Is the name Opilionid valid? Iron C hris | (talk) 02:26, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Hi, everybody. The singular should be Opilion. In English it is very common to read "opilionid", but it is just because of the unused form Opilionida. This appeared in an attempt to standardize the ordinal names in the 1940s. But the official name recognized by ISA is Opiliones. -- Vae victis 16:56, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
I've never read "Opilion" in the literature... it seems that "Opilione" is preferred to refer to a single individual or single species. "Opiliones" can refer to the order or several individuals. "Opilionid" is used more in older texts.
I would suggest that all three are acceptible as they all appear routinely in published works. Older authors refer to "Phalangids" which is also technically appropriate to refer to the Palpatores + Laniatores (contained within the grouping "Phalangia"), especially the British species.
Megabunus ( talk) 18:12, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
The myth mentioned was actually tested by the MythBusters of the Discovery Channel. They found that the venom of daddy long legs is not more lethal than that of a Black Widow spider. Second, the fangs are long enough to pierce the skin. Third, actual intentional infliction of multiple bites caused no significant side effects for a human.
BBC has an interesting article on & photo of one of these in amber. Appartently, it will be pretty important to science.
I thought I should add a note here in the hope that people may read it before adding any references to the Mythbusters TV show yet again. The episode in which the Daddy Long Legs's poisonous bite was tested used cellar spiders, not harvestmen and so there is no need to mention it in this article. -- WaterWolf ( talk) 12:37, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
Regarding:
Because they are a ubiquitous order, but species are often restricted to small regions due to their low dispersal rate,[citation needed] they are good models for biogeographic studies.[dubious – discuss]
I can guess at what the person who wrote this meant to say, but am putting this in discussion to make sure.
My guess is: "This order exists in all environments on the planet, but in isolated populations. Therefore, they are good models for biogeographical studies."
Given that someone put up the citation and dubious tags, I'm not even sure that's all true. I'm not an expert on these arachnids. Someone who is may want to either update the wording to make sense in a fashion similar to my example or remove that statement all together. Mjatucla ( talk) 03:53, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
I would suggest splitting the statement into two phrases. For example:
"Common and Ubiquitous, the Opiliones occur in all major continents with the exception of the Antarctic (Curtis and Machado 2007)."
"Due to their high endemism and low vagility (Pinto-da-Rocha and Silva 2005; Mestre and Pinto-da-Rocha 2004) the harvestmen make ideal model organisms in biogeographic studies".
References:
Curtis D J and Machado G. (2007). Ecology. In Pinto-da-Rocha, Machado and Giribet (2005). eds. Harvestmen: the biology of opiliones. Harvard University Press. London.
Mestre L A M and Pinto-da-Rocha R. (2004). Population dynamics of an isolated population of the Harvestmen Ilhaia cuspidate (Opiliones, Gonyleptidae), in Araucaria Forest (Curitiba, Parená, Brazil). The Journal of Arachnology 32: 208-220.
Pinto-da-Rocha R and Bernardino da Silva M. (2005). Faunistic similarity and historic biogeography of the harvestmen of southern and southeastern Atlantic rain forest of Brazil. The Journal of Arachnology. 33:290-299.
Megabunus (
talk)
18:05, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Would someone kindly discuss the toxicity of harvestmen when ingested by humans or animals? Thank you. 71.87.170.182 ( talk) 16:48, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
I beseech you on behalf of all humanity. Please never raise this question again. 80.42.221.50 ( talk) 05:00, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
anyone else notice that they seem to always have seven legs, not the normal 8? Githyan ( talk) 23:52, 27 September 2011 (UTC)
Anyone care to tell me why the anatomy section merits its own wikisite as opposed to being described right here in the middle of the article on the critter? Aderksen ( talk) 16:58, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
Regarding this statement:
"In some places, harvestmen are known by the name "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs", but this name is also used for two other unrelated arthropods: the crane fly (Tipulidae) and the cellar spider (Pholcidae)."
It is NOT the policy of Wikipedia to decide that, since the term "daddy long legs" has more than one meaning, this article should default to the position of using "harvestman" as the common term.
Rather, it is Wikipolicy to follow what reliable, mainstream sources in general say about the subject. Actually, a majority of the English-speaking world likely uses the term "daddy long legs" to refer to the "harvestman". As such, this "common" usage should be used, not deprecated, in the article as a major colloquial name. Let's not forget that the name "harvestman" is also "colloquial".
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html
69.15.219.71 ( talk) 17:41, 28 June 2012 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: not moved. Jenks24 ( talk) 08:46, 6 August 2012 (UTC)
– Harvestmen is the much more common name, and should probably use the common name like other arachnid orders such as spiders, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, mites and ticks. Yes Man75 ( talk) 13:04, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
Much research has been done on harvestmen biogeography, to the point that many claim the order as a model 'system' of sorts for biogeographical studies. Thus, a section on this topic is highly warranted (and really should be in here regardless of how much their biogeography is studied). The biogeography chapter in "Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones" (Pinto-da-Rocha, Machado, and Giribet 2007) would be a good place to start for anyone willing to write this, although many important papers have been published in the last 6 years that should be taken into consideration. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lophiomys ( talk • contribs) 23:46, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
I have seen harvestmen cluster together in groups of thousands (at least). It is extremely creepy, and will make an arachnophobe faint. Can someone say this in the "Behavior" section, and maybe add an image? TIA, Charizardmewtwo ( talk) 19:18, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
Never heard of this term. If this is just a US name, the article should say so. I suspect this is another example of the common "all the world's America" WP attitude. -- Ef80 ( talk) 19:51, 21 October 2016 (UTC)
The way some of the sentences are worded has me confused as to if harvestmen are or are not spiders. 67.212.45.191 ( talk) 13:25, 5 November 2016 (UTC) jdc843 (I didn't log in)
The article is missing citations on many of the facts being presented. In addition, the article lacks much of the known information on harvestmen mating behavior and predatory avoidance which are very interesting facets of their biology. Wshoenberger ( talk) 16:39, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
I will be adding a section in the Opiliones wiki article focused on their Anti-predator mechanisms. The Behavior section, has behavioral information grouped together in small paragraphs (diet, reproduction, their activity patterns, sociality and defense mechanisms). However, there is a plethora of published studies on their multiple anti-predation mechanisms; all of which I am using as scientific resources for my thesis framework. I will also be editing most of the information in this section, due to incorrect terminology, generalizations (when there some species-specific behaviors), lack of reference throughout the whole article (citations) and lack a lot of published/correct information. There are also many assumptions and no references to back up the arguments. In addition, within this section I will include two section: Primary and Secondary Defenses.
The wiki structure after my editions:
In this section, I will be talking about the general defenses they use and the known predators. Their mechanisms are mainly classified as primary and secondary defenses by Gnaspini and Hara, 2007.
In this section, I will mention and explain the classified primary defenses which are pre-predator encounter (mostly to avoid potential predator) such as crypsis, aposematism and mimicry. I will add the references to multiple studies and their findings.
In this section, I will mention and explain the classified secondary defenses which are the mechanisms used when directly or indirectly encountered with a predator to ensure survival such as thanatosis (retraction of legs – what they might refer in the wiki article as “playing dead” –, fleeing, freezing, retaliation, stridulation, autotomy and chemical secretion. I will also include the references to multiple studies and their findings.
Paecilaema ( talk) 04:59, 3 March 2018 (UTC)
This is the list of sources I am planning to use:
1. Albín A, Toscano-Gadea CA. Predation among armored arachnids: Bothriurus bonariensis (Scorpions, Bothriuridae) versus four species of harvestmen (Harvestmen, Gonyleptidae). Behavioural Processes 2015; 121:1 – 7. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.10.003
2. Benson TJ, Chartier NA. Harvestmen as predators of bird nestlings. Journal of Arachnology 2010; 38:374 – 376. doi: 10.1636/hi09-106.1
3. Chelini M-C, Willemart RH, Hebets EA. Costs and benefits of freezing behaviour in the harvestman Eumesosoma roeweri (Arachnida, Opiliones). Behavioural Processes. 2009;82(2):153–159.
4. Cook DR, Smith AT, Proud DN, Víquez C, Townsend VR. Defensive Responses of Neotropical Harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) to Generalist Invertebrate Predators. Caribbean Journal of Science. 2013;47(2-3):325–334.
5. Dias BC, Willemart RH. The effectiveness of post-contact defenses in a prey with no pre-contact detection. Zoology. 2013;116(3):168–174.
6. Eisner T. Chemical defense of an opilionid (Acanthopachylus aculeatus). Journal of Experimental Biology. 2004; 207:1313–1321. doi: 10.1242/jeb.00849
7. Escalante I, Albín A, Aisenberg A. Lacking sensory (rather than locomotive) legs affects locomotion but not food detection in the harvestman Holmbergiana weyenberghi. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 2013;91(10):726–731.
8. Gnaspini, P & Cavalheiro, A. Chemical and Behavioral Defenses of a Neotropical Cavernicolous Harvestman: Goniosoma spelaeum (Opiliones, Laniatores, Gonyleptidae). The Journal of Arachnology, 1998; 26(1), 81-90. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3705453
9. Gnaspini, P, Hara, MR. Defense mechanisms. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., Machado, G., Giribet, G. (Eds.), Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 2007; pp. 374e399.
10. Gonzalez A, Rossini C, Eisner T. Mimicry: imitative depiction of discharged defensive secretion on carapace of an opilionid. Chemoecology 2004; 14:5–7. doi: 10.1007/s00049-003-0252-2
11. Guffey C. Costs associated with leg autotomy in the harvestmen Leiobunum nigripes and Leiobunum vittatum (Arachnida: Opiliones). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 1999;77(5):824–830.
12. Hara MR, Gnaspini P. Comparative study of the defensive behavior and morphology of the gland opening area among harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae) under a phylogenetic perspective. Arthropod Structure & Development. 2003;32(2-3):257–275.
13. Machado G, Carrera PC, Pomini AM, Marsaioli AJ. Chemical Defense in Harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones): Do Benzoquinone Secretions Deter Invertebrate and Vertebrate Predators? Journal of Chemical Ecology. 2005;31(11):2519–2539.
14. Machado G, Pomini AM. Chemical and behavioral defenses of the Neotropical harvestman Camarana flavipalpi (Arachnida: Opiliones). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 2008;36(5-6):369–376
15. Machado G, Raimundo RLG, Oliveira PS. Daily activity schedule, gregariousness, and defensive behaviour in the Neotropical harvestman Goniosoma longipes(Opiliones: Gonyleptidae). Journal of Natural History 2000; 34:587–596. doi: 10.1080/002229300299453
16. Nazareth TM, Machado G. Egg Production Constrains Chemical Defenses in a Neotropical Arachnid. Plos One. 2015 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134908
17. Pomini AM, Machado G, Pinto-Da-Rocha R, Macías-Ordóñez R, Marsaioli AJ. Lines of defense in the harvestman Hoplobunus mexicanus (Arachnida: Opiliones): Aposematism, stridulation, thanatosis, and irritant chemicals. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 2010;38(3):300–308.
18. Segalerba A, Toscano-Gadea CA Description of the Defensive Behaviour of Four Neotropical Harvestmen (Laniatores: Gonyleptidae) Against a Synchronic and Sympatric Wolf Spider (Araneae: Lycosidae). Arachnology 2016; 17:52–58. doi: 10.13156/arac.2006.17.1.52
19. Segovia JMG, Willemart RH, Del-Claro K. Defences of a Neotropical harvestman against different levels of threat by the recluse spider. Behaviour. 2015;152(6):757–773.
20. Willemart R, Gnaspini P. Spatial distribution, mobility, gregariousness, and defensive behaviour in a Brazilian cave harvestman Goniosoma albiscriptum (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae). Animal Biology 2004; 54:221–235. doi: 10.1163/1570756042484674
21. Willemart RH, Pellegatti-Franco F. The Spider Enoploctenus Cyclothorax (Araneae, Ctenidae) Avoids Preying on the Harvestman Mischonyx Cuspidatus (Opiliones, Gonyleptidae). Journal of Arachnology 2006; 34:649 – 652. doi: 10.1636/s05-70.1 Paecilaema ( talk) 08:49, 17 February 2018 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 22:06, 10 October 2018 (UTC)
FYI. I changed the article name Harvestman anatomy to Opiliones anatomy, to stay consistent this main articles name of Opiliones rather than Harvestman. -- David Tornheim ( talk) 12:04, 31 December 2018 (UTC)
One thing that might be worth noting in this article is their prehensile feet: [1] https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/222/3/jeb192187/20772/Traction-reinforcement-in-prehensile-feet-of (see images). 97.135.42.177 ( talk) 07:32, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
![]() | Opiliones was a good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. | |||||||||
|
![]() | This ![]() It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||
|
Who did name daddy long legs? How does daddy long legs make a life? This is not like grasshopping... I don't like daddy long legs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.175.141.240 ( talk) 05:26, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
The article states in the Etymology section: "The Swedish naturalist, Karl Sundevall, first used the term Opiliones in 1833, and derived from the Latin 'opilio', meaning 'sheep-master' or 'shepherd', although the sense of the allusion is unclear." (Harvestmen - Glauco Machado, Gonzalo Giribet).
While it is useful to know the Latin derivation, the inclusion of the statement "although the sense of the allusion is unclear" shows that the author(s) of that statement have never taken the time to observe a true shepherd in action (one with only a staff and no work dogs to assist), else the allusion would be obvious.
I suggest either removal of the "although the sense of the allusion is unclear" statement, or an additional quote from some source that has better insight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.212.45.234 ( talk) 23:55, 27 June 2009 (UTC)
The photo labeled "Leiobunum politum" is actually Hadrobunus grandis. Note that femur I is much shorter than the length of the body, which is diagnostic for the genus. The unlabeled figure is a male Phalangium opilio.
What would be really helpful is if it mentioned somewhere where on earth these things are found...
I live in northeast Florida and the longlegs used to be very common. During the summer there were numerous individuals or small groups clustered on shady walls.They never seemed to be doing anything at all. This was 20-25 years ago and I cannot recollect the last time I encountered one, but I saw no mention of this geographical area in the "Endangered" section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.92.79.239 ( talk) 16:36, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
This article failed the GA noms due to lack of references. Tarret 21:14, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
What is the singular of Opiliones? Is it Opilione? Or Opiliones?
Is the name Opilionid valid? Iron C hris | (talk) 02:26, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Hi, everybody. The singular should be Opilion. In English it is very common to read "opilionid", but it is just because of the unused form Opilionida. This appeared in an attempt to standardize the ordinal names in the 1940s. But the official name recognized by ISA is Opiliones. -- Vae victis 16:56, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
I've never read "Opilion" in the literature... it seems that "Opilione" is preferred to refer to a single individual or single species. "Opiliones" can refer to the order or several individuals. "Opilionid" is used more in older texts.
I would suggest that all three are acceptible as they all appear routinely in published works. Older authors refer to "Phalangids" which is also technically appropriate to refer to the Palpatores + Laniatores (contained within the grouping "Phalangia"), especially the British species.
Megabunus ( talk) 18:12, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
The myth mentioned was actually tested by the MythBusters of the Discovery Channel. They found that the venom of daddy long legs is not more lethal than that of a Black Widow spider. Second, the fangs are long enough to pierce the skin. Third, actual intentional infliction of multiple bites caused no significant side effects for a human.
BBC has an interesting article on & photo of one of these in amber. Appartently, it will be pretty important to science.
I thought I should add a note here in the hope that people may read it before adding any references to the Mythbusters TV show yet again. The episode in which the Daddy Long Legs's poisonous bite was tested used cellar spiders, not harvestmen and so there is no need to mention it in this article. -- WaterWolf ( talk) 12:37, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
Regarding:
Because they are a ubiquitous order, but species are often restricted to small regions due to their low dispersal rate,[citation needed] they are good models for biogeographic studies.[dubious – discuss]
I can guess at what the person who wrote this meant to say, but am putting this in discussion to make sure.
My guess is: "This order exists in all environments on the planet, but in isolated populations. Therefore, they are good models for biogeographical studies."
Given that someone put up the citation and dubious tags, I'm not even sure that's all true. I'm not an expert on these arachnids. Someone who is may want to either update the wording to make sense in a fashion similar to my example or remove that statement all together. Mjatucla ( talk) 03:53, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
I would suggest splitting the statement into two phrases. For example:
"Common and Ubiquitous, the Opiliones occur in all major continents with the exception of the Antarctic (Curtis and Machado 2007)."
"Due to their high endemism and low vagility (Pinto-da-Rocha and Silva 2005; Mestre and Pinto-da-Rocha 2004) the harvestmen make ideal model organisms in biogeographic studies".
References:
Curtis D J and Machado G. (2007). Ecology. In Pinto-da-Rocha, Machado and Giribet (2005). eds. Harvestmen: the biology of opiliones. Harvard University Press. London.
Mestre L A M and Pinto-da-Rocha R. (2004). Population dynamics of an isolated population of the Harvestmen Ilhaia cuspidate (Opiliones, Gonyleptidae), in Araucaria Forest (Curitiba, Parená, Brazil). The Journal of Arachnology 32: 208-220.
Pinto-da-Rocha R and Bernardino da Silva M. (2005). Faunistic similarity and historic biogeography of the harvestmen of southern and southeastern Atlantic rain forest of Brazil. The Journal of Arachnology. 33:290-299.
Megabunus (
talk)
18:05, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Would someone kindly discuss the toxicity of harvestmen when ingested by humans or animals? Thank you. 71.87.170.182 ( talk) 16:48, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
I beseech you on behalf of all humanity. Please never raise this question again. 80.42.221.50 ( talk) 05:00, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
anyone else notice that they seem to always have seven legs, not the normal 8? Githyan ( talk) 23:52, 27 September 2011 (UTC)
Anyone care to tell me why the anatomy section merits its own wikisite as opposed to being described right here in the middle of the article on the critter? Aderksen ( talk) 16:58, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
Regarding this statement:
"In some places, harvestmen are known by the name "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs", but this name is also used for two other unrelated arthropods: the crane fly (Tipulidae) and the cellar spider (Pholcidae)."
It is NOT the policy of Wikipedia to decide that, since the term "daddy long legs" has more than one meaning, this article should default to the position of using "harvestman" as the common term.
Rather, it is Wikipolicy to follow what reliable, mainstream sources in general say about the subject. Actually, a majority of the English-speaking world likely uses the term "daddy long legs" to refer to the "harvestman". As such, this "common" usage should be used, not deprecated, in the article as a major colloquial name. Let's not forget that the name "harvestman" is also "colloquial".
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html
69.15.219.71 ( talk) 17:41, 28 June 2012 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: not moved. Jenks24 ( talk) 08:46, 6 August 2012 (UTC)
– Harvestmen is the much more common name, and should probably use the common name like other arachnid orders such as spiders, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, mites and ticks. Yes Man75 ( talk) 13:04, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
Much research has been done on harvestmen biogeography, to the point that many claim the order as a model 'system' of sorts for biogeographical studies. Thus, a section on this topic is highly warranted (and really should be in here regardless of how much their biogeography is studied). The biogeography chapter in "Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones" (Pinto-da-Rocha, Machado, and Giribet 2007) would be a good place to start for anyone willing to write this, although many important papers have been published in the last 6 years that should be taken into consideration. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lophiomys ( talk • contribs) 23:46, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
I have seen harvestmen cluster together in groups of thousands (at least). It is extremely creepy, and will make an arachnophobe faint. Can someone say this in the "Behavior" section, and maybe add an image? TIA, Charizardmewtwo ( talk) 19:18, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
Never heard of this term. If this is just a US name, the article should say so. I suspect this is another example of the common "all the world's America" WP attitude. -- Ef80 ( talk) 19:51, 21 October 2016 (UTC)
The way some of the sentences are worded has me confused as to if harvestmen are or are not spiders. 67.212.45.191 ( talk) 13:25, 5 November 2016 (UTC) jdc843 (I didn't log in)
The article is missing citations on many of the facts being presented. In addition, the article lacks much of the known information on harvestmen mating behavior and predatory avoidance which are very interesting facets of their biology. Wshoenberger ( talk) 16:39, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
I will be adding a section in the Opiliones wiki article focused on their Anti-predator mechanisms. The Behavior section, has behavioral information grouped together in small paragraphs (diet, reproduction, their activity patterns, sociality and defense mechanisms). However, there is a plethora of published studies on their multiple anti-predation mechanisms; all of which I am using as scientific resources for my thesis framework. I will also be editing most of the information in this section, due to incorrect terminology, generalizations (when there some species-specific behaviors), lack of reference throughout the whole article (citations) and lack a lot of published/correct information. There are also many assumptions and no references to back up the arguments. In addition, within this section I will include two section: Primary and Secondary Defenses.
The wiki structure after my editions:
In this section, I will be talking about the general defenses they use and the known predators. Their mechanisms are mainly classified as primary and secondary defenses by Gnaspini and Hara, 2007.
In this section, I will mention and explain the classified primary defenses which are pre-predator encounter (mostly to avoid potential predator) such as crypsis, aposematism and mimicry. I will add the references to multiple studies and their findings.
In this section, I will mention and explain the classified secondary defenses which are the mechanisms used when directly or indirectly encountered with a predator to ensure survival such as thanatosis (retraction of legs – what they might refer in the wiki article as “playing dead” –, fleeing, freezing, retaliation, stridulation, autotomy and chemical secretion. I will also include the references to multiple studies and their findings.
Paecilaema ( talk) 04:59, 3 March 2018 (UTC)
This is the list of sources I am planning to use:
1. Albín A, Toscano-Gadea CA. Predation among armored arachnids: Bothriurus bonariensis (Scorpions, Bothriuridae) versus four species of harvestmen (Harvestmen, Gonyleptidae). Behavioural Processes 2015; 121:1 – 7. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.10.003
2. Benson TJ, Chartier NA. Harvestmen as predators of bird nestlings. Journal of Arachnology 2010; 38:374 – 376. doi: 10.1636/hi09-106.1
3. Chelini M-C, Willemart RH, Hebets EA. Costs and benefits of freezing behaviour in the harvestman Eumesosoma roeweri (Arachnida, Opiliones). Behavioural Processes. 2009;82(2):153–159.
4. Cook DR, Smith AT, Proud DN, Víquez C, Townsend VR. Defensive Responses of Neotropical Harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) to Generalist Invertebrate Predators. Caribbean Journal of Science. 2013;47(2-3):325–334.
5. Dias BC, Willemart RH. The effectiveness of post-contact defenses in a prey with no pre-contact detection. Zoology. 2013;116(3):168–174.
6. Eisner T. Chemical defense of an opilionid (Acanthopachylus aculeatus). Journal of Experimental Biology. 2004; 207:1313–1321. doi: 10.1242/jeb.00849
7. Escalante I, Albín A, Aisenberg A. Lacking sensory (rather than locomotive) legs affects locomotion but not food detection in the harvestman Holmbergiana weyenberghi. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 2013;91(10):726–731.
8. Gnaspini, P & Cavalheiro, A. Chemical and Behavioral Defenses of a Neotropical Cavernicolous Harvestman: Goniosoma spelaeum (Opiliones, Laniatores, Gonyleptidae). The Journal of Arachnology, 1998; 26(1), 81-90. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3705453
9. Gnaspini, P, Hara, MR. Defense mechanisms. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., Machado, G., Giribet, G. (Eds.), Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 2007; pp. 374e399.
10. Gonzalez A, Rossini C, Eisner T. Mimicry: imitative depiction of discharged defensive secretion on carapace of an opilionid. Chemoecology 2004; 14:5–7. doi: 10.1007/s00049-003-0252-2
11. Guffey C. Costs associated with leg autotomy in the harvestmen Leiobunum nigripes and Leiobunum vittatum (Arachnida: Opiliones). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 1999;77(5):824–830.
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The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 22:06, 10 October 2018 (UTC)
FYI. I changed the article name Harvestman anatomy to Opiliones anatomy, to stay consistent this main articles name of Opiliones rather than Harvestman. -- David Tornheim ( talk) 12:04, 31 December 2018 (UTC)
One thing that might be worth noting in this article is their prehensile feet: [1] https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/222/3/jeb192187/20772/Traction-reinforcement-in-prehensile-feet-of (see images). 97.135.42.177 ( talk) 07:32, 8 June 2024 (UTC)