Comments on: Harvestmen

By: John English

John English — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:55:02 +0000

I’ve seen golf ball to basketball clumps of them wintering in Barton Cave. The entire ball quivers to generate heat. Barton is in the Forbes State Forest just “down the holler” from Laurel Caverns.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:37:33 +0000

who would have thought………..harvestman? huh.

By: Nannie Underwood

Nannie Underwood — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:59:30 +0000

Here in the deep south, we see “clumps” of these long legged fellows all the time. They love to get up on the underside of the eaves, on the soffitt (sp?) and if they are disturbed, it seems like hundreds of them take off. We’ve always wondered why they pile up together like that – mating? partying? committee meetings? Who knows? Bottom line: since they eat other, possibly less benign bugs, we welcome them. Anything that eats a mosquito is a friend of mine!

By: Bill Parker

Bill Parker — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:57:40 +0000

As a kid I was fascinated by them. Thanks for explaining why it was rare to find one with all 8 legs.

By: Fertanish

Fertanish — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:51:34 +0000

In my hiking, I’ve found Autumn to be a great time to find Harvestmen. Not only can they be found in abundance, but they can be found in a wide range of color patterns. However, even for all my sightings over the years, it was only last year when I first observed the congregational tendency…and quite by accident. I was looking at a series of tree leaves, trying to determine what type of growth was causing very thin, bent branch-like extensions to completely consume the foliage when I realized I was looking at hundreds and hundreds of legs. They spanned all over a series of branches from eye-level upwards and didn’t seem very concerned about my nose inadvertently invading their privacy.