HARVESTMEN

(one of several kinds of arthropod

known as Daddy Longlegs)

In many backyards the most conspicuous "spider" isn't a spider at all, but rather something related to the spiders, as are scorpions, ticks, mites, centipedes and millipedes. This is the Harvestman, also known as Daddy-longlegs. A Brown Harvestman, photographed by Michael Suttkus near his home in Florida, is shown at the right. HARVESTMEN AREN'T SPIDERS THE NAME

"HARVESTMAN" John LaSala writes us that he's read that harvestmen are called harvestmen because they're most conspicuous in the fall, at harvest time! If you look at the body of a harvestman with your magnifying glass, you'll see why it's not a spider. First of all, instead of its body consisting of two parts, as with the spider, the parts being the cephalothorax and the abdomen, harvestmen have just one thing. A harvestmen has its head, thorax, and abdomen all fused together. Second, instead of the spider's usual eight eyes, harvestmen just possess two. HARVESTMEN ARE HARMLESS You don't need to be afraid of harvestmen because they have no venom or fangs at all. I know that many people say "Though they have mouthparts so small they can't bite, they have the most poisonous of all venoms in the animal kingdom." This is just one of those "urban myths" going around.

Harvestmen often gather, linking their legs together