Stats

Lifespan

About 1 yr

Size

Small

Diet

Omnivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

Eurasia

Movement

Walking

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Common

About

The European Harvestman is one of the most widespread arachnids on Earth, found from gardens to forest edges across the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike spiders it has no venom or silk glands — its extraordinarily long legs, often five times its body length, serve as sensory organs and can be shed to escape predators but never regrow.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg sac

   A silk-wrapped egg sac shelters a clutch of eggs until the young are ready to emerge.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   A spiderling emerges from the egg sac already in miniature adult form and starts catching prey almost immediately.
3. 3.
   subadult

   A near-adult arachnid molts through several instars, growing larger and developing mature markings.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown after its final molt.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Opiliones

Family

Phalangiidae

Genus

Phalangium

Species

Phalangium opilio