© Andy ShottsSpecies Focus - Harvestman (Opilio canestrinii)
Have you encountered these miniature War of the Worlds machines in your garden? Unlike their sci-fi lookalikes, the harvestman Opilio canestrinii is currently staging a rapid invasion of Britain.
© Mark Sheridan
It was first recorded in the UK in 1999 and since then has spread throughout Britain. Its march across Europe from Italy appears to have displaced an earlier invading species, Opilio parietinus, reflecting the exciting and ever-changing nature of our harvestman fauna.
Opilio canestrinii is easy to find in gardens as it sits out in the open on walls in full view. Some care is needed to identify it from other UK species, but fortunately only O. canestrinii has orange leg trochanters (arrowed below), so you can easily distinguish it from other large harvestmen species you might find sitting on house or garden walls.
Unlike spiders, harvestmen don’t produce silk and also lack venom. They eat a variety of small invertebrates and will even scavenge dead prey and nibble fruit!
Opilio canestrinii is easily distinguished from other large UK harvestman by the orange colour of its leg bases (trochanter segment arrowed).
More information on this species can be found here.
Please submit your records to the Cofnod ORS or the LERC Wales App so we can map the range expansion of this species.
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