Harvestmen guide
WildID Harvestmen is an up-to-date identification guide to these spider-like invertebrates.
- Covers all 34 British and Irish species
- Illustrated with photographs throughout
- Accompanying identification table
Harvestmen are arachnids, and belong to the order Opiliones. The group is easy to recognise. Like spiders they are invertebrates with 8 legs, often very long compared to their small round bodies. But unlike spiders the fore and hind parts of the body are fused into one unit. Many species possess a prominent raised eye turret. Other startling characters, like crowns of spines and three-pronged tridents, can make some species very easy to recognise.
Of course harvestmen are slightly more challenging to identify than, say, the commoner butterflies and ladybirds. But many species show very distinctive and diagnostic characters in the field. So with a little effort, you should be able to find at several different species within a suburban garden. And then by widening your search within your local area, to hedgerows, woodlands and damp grasslands, you will be able to find many more.
This is the 2nd edition of our fold-out guide to harvestmen, replacing the 1st edition from 2010. New species continue to arrive, with 6 species new to the British and Irish list since 2010. Like the first edition, there are photographs of each species, with separate photos for males and females where there is significant variation. On the reverse side there is a comprehensive identification table, including the unique characteristics which immediately set species apart from each other. The author includes concise guidance on the important body features you need to examine.
