Unit 5

Look at the painting below. Its name is “Daddy Longlegs of the Evening – Hope!” by Salvador Dali. In it, Dali painted an animal called “harvestman”. It looks like a spider, but it’s not!

(if you can't see it, click on the picture to open a larger image)

Can't you see it? Try again!




1.Read the questions about daddy longlegs (harvestmen or opiliones) below. Can you answer them?

a) How many legs have they got?

b) Are their legs only for walking?

c) Have they got more or less poison than spiders?

d) Have the harvestmen got other names?

e) How many eyes have they got?

f) When handling them, can their legs fall off?


2. Go to the National Geographic Kids website and watch the video about daddy longlegs to help you with the questions above!



3. If you still have doubts, you can try this text below. Read it and find the information you need.

A daddy longlegs is not a spider, neither an insect. They’re called "opiliones", which is Latin for "aphid suckers". Aphids are everywhere: they are small plant-eating insects that reproduce like crazy.

Opiliones are arachnids (8-legged arthropods) but NOT spiders. Spiders have two body parts, two fangs, and produce silk. Harvestmen do not produce silk, have no fangs, and have one body part.




Spider have fangs,







opiliones don't.



A daddy longlegs has got long and slender legs. It can hear, taste and smell using the legs. The daddy longlegs mouth is for chewing: the daddy longlegs chews her food completely even if she does it outside her mouth. She sucks up the aphid juices through a flexible tube and then she flosses using one of her own body parts.

Opiliones can pinch the skin but they can rarely penetrate human skin. However, some daddy longelegs have sharp spines that can cause bleeding. Some also can pinch hard with their back legs and cause considerable pain.

Having long legs allows them to stay high up above predators. Plus, two legs emit a stinky smell. This smell is created to help the daddy longlegs defend itself from predators (mice, birds, spiders, etc.) .

The legs also have built-in seismographs so she can feel the approach of an enemy, like, for example, the tiger beetle. When the beetle attacks and grabs a leg, the daddy longlegs reveals a life-saving mechanism: it releases the leg!

The legs continue to twitch after they are detached. While some Opiliones legs will twitch for a minute, other kinds have been recorded to twitch for up to an hour! Meanwhile ... the daddy longlegs run away, safe and sound!

Numerous species of Opiliones are endangered but only a few receive any kind of governmental protection.

3. Using the information from the video and the text, write a paragraph in your worksheet comparing spiders to harvestmen.



Sources:

www.arachnology.org

Encarta Msn

http://i.pbase.com/o6/31/570831/1/81068199.gQ5AFxTY._MG_2990.jpg

www.scielo.br