Winter has returned,
so the gods are once again asleep.
Jeff, every day is remembrance day and I am
recalling Aug 13, 2013.
However, Will, this is not a traditional story. So I
hope you will not mind if I show it - it is not our "duet" to be
(I hope) about Spider Woman.
Vicki and I were doing our outreach prog in Killarney Prov Park.
On a tree near our tent was a red spider:
All legs but not 8?
Its body was red, and on first glance "obvious". However, as I looked at my photos I began to notice other patches of identically coloured reds - maybe funghi or lichen?
I began to wonder at its "legs" - 2 are missing?
I wonder at what its experience, history was:
To all who seek to understand,
WOB
from EL of VR came the following:
ReplyDeleteSome really nice shots but while the creature is an arachnid, it is not a spider, it is called a "Daddy Long-legs" by some a Harvestman by others. Unlike spiders they have 1 not 2 segments and they have fewer eyes..
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/harvestmen
Harvestmen are Arachnids of the order Opiliones. Harvestmen is the preferred term but they are commonly called daddy-long-legs - even though many have short legs. Moreover, "daddy-long-legs" is also used for cellar spiders (Pholcidae) as well as crane flies (Tipulidae).
Description
As with other arachnids, harvestmen have 4 pairs of legs and 2 pairs of mouth parts - chelicerae and pedipalps. Harvestmen are unique among the arachnids in that they possess a pair of scent glands, which are located lateral to the second pair of legs. The glands secrete a liquid or spray used primarily for defence. If a predator grabs a harvestman's leg, a specific joint will usually break (called limb autotomy), leaving a twitching leg but allowing the arachnid to escape. The leg is not regenerated. Harvestmen are distinguished from spiders in that harvestmen have one body part (spiders, 2), 2 eyes (spiders, usual 6 or 8), no silk glands, pinching chelicerae (spiders, fangs) and no venom glands.