#phalangium

[drhoz]

#2289 - Phalangium opilio - European Harvestman

Other photos from elsewhere on the trip.

AKA brown harvestman and daddy longlegs. They've also been called Dentizacheus minor, Phalangium brevicorne, Phalangium cornutum, Phalangium cornutum and Phalangium longipalpis.

Phalangium might refer to fingers, or possibly refers to the military phalanx, often armed with long pikes. Opilio means 'sheep-slave' and is probably a reference to the stilts that shepards used to walk around on to keep track of their herds. Opiliones is now the name for the entire order.

Anyway - this species is common in Eurasia, and has been introduced to New Zealand, North Africa, and North America. It thrives in human-altered areas, such as croplands and gardens, so seeing this one out in the Rangipo Desert may have been a little unusual, but it was near the Desert Road and a siding where gravel was stockpiled, so...

Like most harvestmen, this special is a nocturnal carnivore and scavenger, and a useful predator of insect eggs in croplands. During the day they hide up among vegetation or on vertical surfaces, preferring warm slightly moist areas, and come down to feed. Young instars might not descend to the ground - possibly to avoid larger harvestmen.

There's also been a recent discovery about harvestman eyes - until now it was thought they only had a single pair, on the spiny tubercle in the third photo - but it turns out they also have vestigial median and lateral eyes.

Rangipo Desert, North Island Volcanic Plateau, New Zealand

[drustanus]

Here is the bit in question, out of the 28th chapter of the 29th book of Pliny's Natural History (in the Teubner edition of 1906 at least; my dictionaries give the 4th chapter instead).

tertium genus est eodem phalangi nomine araneus lanuginosus, grandissimo capite, quo dissecto inveniri intus dicuntur vermiculi duo adalligatique mulieribus pelle cervina ante solis ortum praestare, ne concipiant, ut caecilius in commentariis reliquit. vis ea annua est. quam solam ex omni atocio dixisse fas sit, quoniam aliquarum fecunditas plena liberis tali venia indiget.

And here is a translation by me.

A third kind [of creepy crawly] also by the name phalangium is a downy spider with a very grand head, inside which, when dissected, two worms are said to be found and, being attached to women before dawn using a deer skin, to make it so that they don't conceive, as Caecilius has attested in his commentaries. This power lasts a year. It is this alone which out of all the contraceptives it is good to have mentioned, because the fecundity of some women, abounding with children, wants such an indulgence.

[christophe-h-blog]

Phalangium opilio par Christophe. Photography

[drhoz]

The Great ACT-NSW-NZ Trip, 2023-2024 - Down the Taranaki Coastline

Heading south, en route to Wellington and hence the South Island. We stopped and stayed at a few places on the way, including Cape Egmont to see the lighthouse and beach, and Ōpunake because I wanted a look at the bay, cliffs, and beach.

Quite a lot of the area we were driving through was covered in small conical hills - that's because it's all volcanic landslide debris from Taranaki, 20km away.

The cliffs at Ōpunake and the rocky beaches along the rest of the coastline are more evidence of the violent geology.

The boulders in the layers still in the cliff are fridge sized.

Most of the land had been cleared of native vegetation for agriculture, but there were still a few local species around. And extensive burrows by Tiger Beetle larvae in the sand and volcanic ash deposits. Here's a few I've already covered elsewhere.

[drhoz]

The Great ACT-NSW-NZ Trip, 2023-2024 - South to Central Otago

Via Tarras, the Lindis Valley, and the Lindis Pass. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs, but not for long.

But I did see a few species, and unfortunately, a few of the introduced ones that have showed up all over the place. And a plinth commemorating the introduction of red deer to the area, while we're talking about bad ideas.

[drhoz]

The Great ACT-NSW-NZ Trip, 2023-2024 - Horopito

Circling around the volcanoes we came to a very small town named after the Pepper Tree Pseudowintera colorata, a 'primitive' flowering shrub with powerful antifungal uses amongst other things. There may well have been some growing around the area, but I didn't recognise it alas.

Still, the place we stayed had some very nice stuff growing around the yard, and a geologically slightly worrying amount of boulders filling the creek. But then Ruapehu did loom at the end of the road, and it's notorious for its lahar landslides.

As previously, here's some of the species I've covered before. Some turned up when I set up an LED lamp near the wall of the house that evening.