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Opilione Dromopoda Arachnida
Crazy long legs that attach to the body with "nubs". Black head area and black and orange abdomen/body.
Crawling all over the base of a few trees in the forests of Parque Arví, in the hills outside of Medellín, Colombia.
Opiliones are an order of arachnids commonly known as harvestmen. They are not spiders, which are of the order Araneae rather than the order Opiliones. These arachnids are known for their exceptionally long walking legs, compared to body size, although there are also short-legged species. The difference between harvestmen and spiders is that in harvestmen the two main body sections (the abdomen with ten segments and cephalothorax, or prosoma and opisthosoma) are broadly joined, so that they appear to be one oval structure; they also have no venom or silk glands. In more advanced species, the first five abdominal segments are often fused into a dorsal shield called the scutum, which is normally fused with the carapace. The feeding apparatus (stomotheca) differs from other arachnids in that ingestion is not restricted to liquid, but chunks of solid food can be taken in. They have a single pair of eyes in the middle of their heads, oriented sideways. However, there are eyeless species.
Spotted on May 13, 2012
Submitted on Jun 20, 2012
2 Comments
Thank you Clement! I've updated the listing.
a type of tropical harvestman