An arachnologist from Germany has discovered a harvestman with a leg span of more than 13 inches (33 cm) during a research trip to Laos.
This is a harvestman found in a cave in the southern province of Khammouan, Laos (© Senckenberg)
The specimen is one of the largest representatives of the entire order anywhere in the world. The current record is just over 13.4” (34 cm) leg span for a species from South America.
“I collected spiders from the caves in the southern province of Khammouan”, said Dr Peter Jäger of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt. “In one of the caves I discovered a harvestman that was absolutely huge.”
The expert has so far failed to properly identify the harvestman to species level. “In attempt to categorize the creature properly, however, and give it a scientific name, I soon reached my limits”, Dr Jäger said.
“It’s a shame we can’t identify such an exceptional discovery correctly, i.e. its species”, the scientist said, “we haven’t dealt with these and related genera from China and neighbouring South East Asia before.”
A close-up of the new harvestman’s body (© Senckenberg)
“Other arthropods with similar huge dimensions have been found in the same region – the Laotian huntsman spider Heteropoda maxima with a leg span of up to 11.8” (30 cm), the whip scorpion Typopeltis magnificus with a span of 10.2” (26 cm) and the predatory centipede Thereuopoda longicornis with a total span of almost 15.8” (40 cm).”
“What mechanisms or factors are responsible for this frequency of gigantism is still unclear”, Dr Jäger said. “One possible explanation is the potentially slower rate of growth in the caves.”
