For other arthropods called "daddy longlegs", and other uses, see Daddy longlegs (disambiguation). For the novel by Jean Webster, see Daddy-Long-Legs (novel).
Opiliones
Temporal range: 410–0 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Early Devonian – Holocene
Hadrobunus grandis showing its body structure and long legs: one pair of eyes and broadly joined body tagma differentiate it from similar-looking arachnids.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Chelicerata
Class:
Arachnida
Order:
Opiliones Sundevall, 1833
Suborders
Cyphophthalmi
Eupnoi
Dyspnoi
Laniatores
†Tetrophthalmi
Diversity
5 suborders, > 6,650 species
The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an order of arachnids colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs. As of April 2017[update], over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide,[1] although the total number of extant species may exceed 10,000.[2] The order Opiliones includes five suborders: Cyphophthalmi, Eupnoi, Dyspnoi, Laniatores, and Tetrophthalmi, which were named in 2014.[3]
Representatives of each extant suborder can be found on all continents except Antarctica.
Well-preserved fossils have been found in the 400-million-year-old Rhynie cherts of Scotland, and 305-million-year-old rocks in France. These fossils look surprisingly modern, indicating that their basic body shape developed very early on,[4] and, at least in some taxa, has changed little since that time.
Their phylogenetic position within the Arachnida is disputed; their closest relatives may be camel spiders (Solifugae) or a larger clade comprising horseshoe crabs, Ricinulei, and Arachnopulmonata (scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and Tetrapulmonata).[5][6] Although superficially similar to and often misidentified as spiders (order Araneae), the Opiliones are a distinct order that is not closely related to spiders. They can be easily distinguished from long-legged spiders by their fused body regions and single pair of eyes in the middle of the cephalothorax. Spiders have a distinct abdomen that is separated from the cephalothorax by a constriction, and they have three to four pairs of eyes, usually around the margins of the cephalothorax.
English speakers may colloquially refer to species of Opiliones as "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs", but this name is also used for two other distantly related groups of arthropods, the crane flies of the superfamily Tipuloidea, and the cellar spiders of the family Pholcidae, (commonly referred to as "daddy long-leg spiders") most likely because of their similar appearance. Harvestmen are also referred to as "shepherd spiders" in reference to how their unusually long legs reminded observers of the ways that some European shepherds used stilts to better observe their wandering flocks from a distance.[7]
^Kury, Adriano B. "Classification of Opiliones". www.museunacional.ufrj.br. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
^Glauco Machado, Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha & Gonzalo Giribet (2007). "What are harvestmen?". In Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha, Glauco Machado & Gonzalo Giribet (ed.). Harvestmen: the Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press. pp. 1–13. ISBN 978-0-674-02343-7.
^Cite error: The named reference Tetro was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Garwood, Russell J.; Dunlop, Jason A.; Giribet, Gonzalo; Sutton, Mark D. (2011). "Anatomically modern Carboniferous harvestmen demonstrate early cladogenesis and stasis in Opiliones". Nature Communications. 2: 444. Bibcode:2011NatCo...2..444G. doi:10.1038/ncomms1458. PMID 21863011.
^Ballesteros, Jesús A; Sharma, Prashant P (2019-11-01). Halanych, Ken (ed.). "A Critical Appraisal of the Placement of Xiphosura (Chelicerata) with Account of Known Sources of Phylogenetic Error". Systematic Biology. 68 (6): 896–917. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz011. ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 30917194.
^Ballesteros, Jesús A; Santibáñez-López, Carlos E; Baker, Caitlin M; Benavides, Ligia R; Cunha, Tauana J; Gainett, Guilherme; Ontano, Andrew Z; Setton, Emily V W; Arango, Claudia P; Gavish-Regev, Efrat; Harvey, Mark S; Wheeler, Ward C; Hormiga, Gustavo; Giribet, Gonzalo; Sharma, Prashant P (2022-02-03). Teeling, Emma (ed.). "Comprehensive Species Sampling and Sophisticated Algorithmic Approaches Refute the Monophyly of Arachnida". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 39 (2). doi:10.1093/molbev/msac021. ISSN 0737-4038. PMC 8845124. PMID 35137183.
^Joyce Tavolacci, ed. (2003), Insects and spiders of the world, vol. 5: Harvester ant to leaf-cutting ant, Marshall Cavendish, p. 263, ISBN 978-0-7614-7334-3
to Opiliones. Wikispecies has information related to Opiliones. Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog[permanent dead link] (2005) Harvestman: Order Opiliones—Diagnostic...
Harvestmen: the Biology of Opiliones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 59–60. ISBN 0-674-02343-9. Opiliones reproductive anatomy- Dr. Jefferey...
muscle groups are attached. The endosternite is even calcified in some Opiliones. Most arachnids lack extensor muscles in the distal joints of their appendages...
Opiliones (commonly known as harvestmen) are an order of arachnids and share many common characteristics with other arachnids. However, several differences...
listings of Trinidad opiliones in 1947 in a paper in which they named several new species. In Kury's 2003 catalogue of New World opiliones Trinidad was covered...
(Spermophorides lascars) to 11 mm (Artema atlanta) in body length. Harvestmen (Opiliones), which are not spiders at all, also have long and thin legs (indeed,...
scent gland of Opiliones) and diverse phaneres. In a few orders, such as Solifugae and Schizomida, the carapace may be subdivided. In Opiliones, some authors...
partial list of Australian spiders and harvestmen (Orders Araneae and Opiliones). Family Actinopodidae Missulena spp. Mouse spiders Family Araneidae Arachnura...
which is also used for arachnids of the family Pholcidae and the order Opiliones. The larvae of crane flies are known commonly as leatherjackets. Crane...
Centrobunus braueri is an extinct species of arachnids in the order Opiliones, endemic to the Seychelles island of Mahé, where it was found in 1894. No...
Opiliones, mites, and ticks. Due to its broad, synanthropic distribution, P. opilio is considered an opportune representative of the order Opiliones....
an internal structure used for muscle attachments, also occur in some opiliones, and the pupal cuticle of the fly Bactrocera dorsalis contains calcium...
world catalogue of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones). Version 1.0 — Checklist of all valid nomina in Opiliones with authors and dates of publication up...
Dyspnoi, and a revised classification system of Palpatores (Arachnida, Opiliones)". Cladistics. 31 (3): 277–290. doi:10.1111/cla.12087. ISSN 0748-3007...
four vestigial ones, and reevaluate the affinities of fossil members of Opiliones with four eyes, resulting in older estimated ages of harvestman diversification...
BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-04-23. Kury, A.B. (2014). "Classification of Opiliones". National Museum of Brazil. Retrieved 2018-04-23. Shultz, J. W. "Vonones...
Triaenonychoidea is a superfamily of armoured harvestmen in the order Opiliones. There are 4 families and more than 440 described species in Triaenonychoidea...
are used for grooming (papillae in pseudoscorpions, cheliceral teeth in Opiliones). In Paratrechalea, males and females have shown to have a chelicerae...
may be referred to specifically as the conscutum. In some species of Opiliones, fused abdominal segments are referred to as a scutum. Fish scutes Osteoderms...
Taracidae is a family of harvestmen in the order Opiliones. There are 4 genera and 23 described species in Taracidae. The Family Taracidae contains the...
"Poecilaemula eutypa". Kury, A. et al. (2023). WCO-Lite: World Catalogue of Opiliones. Retrieved 27 March 2024. Medrano, M.; Kury, A.B.; Martins, P.H.; Proud...
Opiliones (in German). Jena, Germany: Gustav Fischer. p. 1116. "Acropsopilionoidea". Kury, A. et al. (2023). WCO-Lite: World Catalogue of Opiliones....
Catalogue of Opiliones. Retrieved 7 March 2024. Kury, A.B.(2003). Annotated catalogue of the Laniatores of the New World (Arachnida, Opiliones). Revista...
Cenomanian "Tithaeidae". Kury, A. et al. (2023). WCO-Lite: World Catalogue of Opiliones. Retrieved 30 March 2024. "Tithaeidae". Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 30...
Pocock, Reginald Innes (1902). "On some new harvest-spiders of the order Opiliones from the southern continents". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of...
secondary aquatic, the arachnids use internal fertilization. Except for opiliones and some mites, where the male have a penis used for direct fertilization...
Garleppa is a genus of the order Opiliones in the family Sclerosomatidae. The genus was first described by Roewer, 1912 Garleppa contains the following...
Cyphophthalmi in a basal position within Opiliones. In 2024, a study discovered that living members of Opiliones have retained lateral eyes, as well as...
a higher probability of the bites. The spider-like arachnids known as Opiliones (also known as "harvestmen" or "daddy-long-legs") are a species often...
The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago 45 km (28 mi) off Land's End, Cornwall. Little of the fauna on, above or in the seas surrounding the isles was described...
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