Unhappy harvestman

[Bruce Williams]

A male harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus - Please check scale bar to get an idea of size.

I love the look of these odd looking characters and they are so accommodating too, rarely if ever running away when you poke a lens at them. In my experience it's quite unusual to see their pedipalps tucked under like this, they are more usually held fully extended in front of their body.

This is a hand-held (ahem ) stack of 2 frames using Zerene Stacker. I actually took 3 frames but misjudged the third focus step.

Nikon D300 plus Nikon 105mm VR macro lens.
On-camera flash (manual setting), ISO200, 1/250s, f/18.



Bruce:)

[Ken Ramos]

These can be interesting creatures, though in numbers they have a bit of a stench to them. Why does the thought of evolution burn into my mind as I look at this thing? Argh! I'm becoming a Darwinist, no...yes, yes, yes... Good photo there Bruce!

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Ken .

Your comments prompted me to do a little research (aka Googling) and it seems your instinct is right on the money. From what I read harvestmen have been around for over 400 million years and have remained largely unchanged for a significant part of that time.

I quite liked this pic as to me it looked for all the world like a grumpy face on legs - bit like this emoticon .

Bruce

[ChrisR]

I recently went to a talk on spiders. The talker insisted they must now be called "harvestpeople".

[LordV]

Lovely capture- I always think they look like a little person sitting in a mechanical digger
Brian v.

[Bruce Williams]

Chris........and I'd heard that harvestmen were non-political .

Thanks Brian....and I'm right with you on the 'little person sitting in a mechanical digger' .

Bruce

[Ken Ramos]

Thanks Ken .

Your comments prompted me to do a little research (aka Googling) and it seems your instinct is right on the money. From what I read harvestmen have been around for over 400 million years and have remained largely unchanged for a significant part of that time.

I quite liked this pic as to me it looked for all the world like a grumpy face on legs - bit like this emoticon .

Bruce

Well that says a lot for the little stinkers, seems as though they survived through the Ordovician-Silurian event (450 mya) and right on through the Cretaceous-Tertiary event till present day. Kind of like cockroaches they are.