Itsy Bitsy Spider

[pietpetoors]

Does anyone know what spider this is
What makes me curious is that when we moved into this house 5 years ago there were none of these spiders.
I only noted them about a year ago and now they are becoming more and more.

I always wonder what the chances are of importing some weird crawling insects with our products.

[KOBUSL]

Lyk of hy LED's op sy rug het.............................

[george]

Ek kry gereeld sulke snaakse byt plekke

[Mud Dog]

Looks a bit like a rain spider .... don't think I've seen one like that before .... unusual that the 2nd pair of legs are the longest, but then I'm not a spider boffin and they may be found only in the W/Cape. Nonetheless it would also bother me and be in the back of my mind that it's possibly an 'imported' species, especially since you say you've only started seeing them recently and the numbers are now growing.

[Thunder02]

Harvestman spider

Harvestman spider.jpg (9.08 KiB) Viewed 7446 times

Plenty different looking ones in same family group.

[Samurai]

Does anyone know what spider this is
What makes me curious is that when we moved into this house 5 years ago there were none of these spiders.
I only noted them about a year ago and now they are becoming more and more.

I always wonder what the chances are of importing some weird crawling insects with our products.

I sent an email with your picture to The Spider Club of South Africa, as I was also interested to know what it is!

This is their reply:

"It isn’t a spider but an arachnid in another order.

Your photo shows a harvestman in the order Opilione. There are a number of differences between spiders and harvestmen, the latter have a fused body, do not possess either venom or silk producing organs, vestigial or in many cases no eyes and a very different reproductive system. Have a look at them on the SA Museum website http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org

There are 9 orders of arachnids of which the best known in this country are spiders, scorpions, sun spiders (or red Romans) and whip spiders also known as whip scorpions. The less noticed arachnids are in the orders of pseudo-scorpions, hooded tick spiders (not found in south Africa), harvestmen, the tiny short-tailed whip scorpions, micro whip scorpions also minute, and lastly thousands of ticks and mites.

Very interesting indeed!

[Thunder02]

So the old age has not destroyed all my memory

[Ultred]

Seems you still got it.


Sent from my iPhone using my fingers.

[ChrisF]

Does anyone know what spider this is
What makes me curious is that when we moved into this house 5 years ago there were none of these spiders.
I only noted them about a year ago and now they are becoming more and more.

I always wonder what the chances are of importing some weird crawling insects with our products.

I sent an email with your picture to The Spider Club of South Africa, as I was also interested to know what it is!

This is their reply:

"It isn’t a spider but an arachnid in another order.

Your photo shows a harvestman in the order Opilione. There are a number of differences between spiders and harvestmen, the latter have a fused body, do not possess either venom or silk producing organs, vestigial or in many cases no eyes and a very different reproductive system. Have a look at them on the SA Museum website http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org

There are 9 orders of arachnids of which the best known in this country are spiders, scorpions, sun spiders (or red Romans) and whip spiders also known as whip scorpions. The less noticed arachnids are in the orders of pseudo-scorpions, hooded tick spiders (not found in south Africa), harvestmen, the tiny short-tailed whip scorpions, micro whip scorpions also minute, and lastly thousands of ticks and mites.

Very interesting indeed!

ek sien n klomp groot britse woorde ....

my vrou sien 6 of meer pote en ek beter dood maak, en VINNIG ook ....

[Haboob]

Neil, but the liquour will... I should know...

[Thunder02]

Neil, but the liquour will... I should know...

Lucky I don't drink


Just su................

[GI Jane]

Think this is the same insect. In the article I read they are related to the Daddy long legs...

Although seen during the day, Harvestmen are primarily night prowlers and solitary in habit. Sometimes several will form a tangled mass of bodies and legs and remain immobile unless prodded into activity. If you are lucky, you may even see two males joust upon meeting.

Mostly, a harvestman is found sitting motionless on the upper sides of leaves, waiting to ambush a soft-bodied insect. During warm months, Harvestmen are extremely common on the shady sides of buildings, underneath eaves, in crawl spaces and on trees, both in rural and urban environments. They are especially common in wooded areas, under rocks or logs and even caves. They like moist, shady environments and can will live in basements.

Harvestmen are considered to be predators and scavengers and eat a wide variety of food, preferring insects and other arthropods (dead or alive), as well as vegetable matter and juices. Adults usually begin foraging at twilight. They're generally carnivorous, feeding on live invertebrate prey. A harvestman will eat little ants on a crumb of bread and then eat part of the crumb. Food is never a problem, ranging from aphids, beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, flies, mites, small slugs, snails and spiders, to fecal matter and fungi. Watch one eat and notice how after each meal it cleans each leg, drawing them, one at a time through its jaws.

These unusual arachnids make an interesting subject for study and Harvestmen can be easily collected by hand. Carefully capture several. Don't worry about their curling up and becoming immobile. They will become active again once they are in a larger space. Place them in a glass-covered terrarium or 18"x12"x6" box. Cover the floor with a half-inch of earth or coarse sand and be sure to provide water or the Harvestmen will soon die. Do this with dampened blotters, thus avoiding that problem with water surface tension. Change the blotters regularly to minimize mold. Finally, add some leaves for hiding places. Harvestmen will survive on tidbits of bread, butter and fatty meat as well a few tasty insects thrown in for good measure.

Whether you know them as Harvestmen or Daddylonglegs, they are not pests, but very beneficial and medically harmless members of the class Arachnida. Granted, they can sometimes be a nuisance if there are dozens congregated, but remember they are not harmful to humans, animals, buildings, or crops. Large spiders eat Harvestmen along with other predatory insects like assassin bugs. Birds are among its enemies and some species are threatened by the invasion of non-native fire ants.