This is the spider commonly known as a daddy long legs. It is technically not a spider and has no venomous glands or silk glands for spinning a web. It does have eight legs, however, like a spider. The second pair are the longest and also act as antennae. If you watch them for any length of time, you will notice them using this pair of legs as feelers. The two first matched set of short legs are called the pedipalps and are used to direct food into the mouth. Unlike spiders, they can eat solid food as well as liquid. The eye is that little black structure sitting on the top of the body. They cannot see images, thus the reason they feel about with their legs. They are also mostly nocturnal.
When I got my 100 mm telephoto macro lens, I went looking for something to shoot and found this harvestman on a nandina bush in the side yard. The bush happened to be blooming at the time and, once I located this subject, I just started following it around with the lens, which gave me a fascinating look at the world from their perspective. I captured images as I was able, but they can move surprisingly fast, so I was having to move around a lot. It surprised me when it stopped to taste one of the blooms on the nandina. It is also one of my favorite shots of a harvestman.
No comments:
Post a Comment