Harvestman Studies (Patreon)

I'm going to go with the term "harvestman" cause it's less ambiguous and also less of a mouthful!Interesting little creatures that have always seemed very out of place to me, as not-quite-spiders.

Fun facts:

They are not spiders! They don't build webs, have no venom, and consume whole chunks of food rather than only consuming liquids. Whether or not they are arachnids at all is disputed.

They have walked the earth for roughly 400 million years, predating spiders, and their body shape has roughly stayed the same.

There is a popular urban myth that harvestmen are the most venomous creatures on the planet, but do not pose a danger to humans because their fangs are too small to puncture human skin. It's extremely false as they don't have any venom at all. I remember believing this as a kid!

Most species have two eyes, some species have a few extra vestigial eyes, and a few species have no eyes at all.

In some species, the male is solely responsible for caring for eggs, often against the females, who will eat the eggs.

Many species will amputate their own legs to avoid predators, which cannot be regenerated. Their legs can continue twitching for up to an hour after being detached, which can serve as a distraction.

The common harvestman is considered synanthropic, which means that they have evolved to benefit from human settlements and their environmental modifications.