Opiliones

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Aka Harvest Men or Daddy Long legs.Daddy-long-legs/Daddy-longlegs/Daddy Long-legs, Granddaddy-long-legs, Harvest Spiders, Shepherd Spiders, Phalangids, Opilionids

Description

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Opiliones are delicate, shy forms that are among the largest of arachnids in woodlands.[book]

Easily separated from spiders by the broad fusion of the two body segments, so that the body appears to be composed of a singular segment. Harvestmen do not possess silk glands, and can't spin webs. Unlike spiders, harvestmen lack venom glands associated with their chelicerae (mouthparts). Uniquely among the arachnids fertilization is direct: males of most taxa possess a penis (also referred to in the literature as pene, aedagus or intromittent organ).[bug guide]

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Noted

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Although harvest men are a fascinating group of arachnids the dramatic increase in environmental disturbance around the world especially in tropical regions may have driven many species to extinction even before there formal description by taxonomists. Human activities including pesticide use forestry operations air and soil pollution fire and even the introduction of domestic animals have a tremendous impact on the habitats they depend on. All formerly considered endangered are most were cave dwellers who are particularly sensitive to disturbances of habitat [Harvard book] Restricted distributions