A harvestman, probably Phalangium opilio. He spent the day lying in wait behind an orb spider's web. He was quite amenable to posing for his picture, and didn't move a muscle, even with the camera an inch away. Click on the photo to see his odd little turret eyes.
And a brown moth, Noctua pronuba, or large yellow underwing. I was surprised, getting face to face with him, how much he looked like a bird, a hawk, maybe, or an owl. That's if you ignore the extra legs, and the fact that the "beak" is a proboscis, adapted for a diet of nectar.
Fabulous photo of the harvestman. I've often wondered what the world looks like from the point of view of these odd kind of beasts.
ReplyDeleteKind of dark and fuzzy, I'd say. Harvestmen have pretty minimal eyesight, and their main locomotory sense is touch - the second pair of legs is much longer than all the rest, and they use them to tap ahead of themselves.
ReplyDeleteJamon & Chris; great question, great answer! So they run around like blind men with canes! I'll have to watch one closely next chance I get.
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