Friday 24 September 2010

Communal daddy long legs

These three daddy long legs (Opiliones), Paroligolophus agrestis, had found a cosy spot at the top of this apple. I am not aware that this species is particularly gregarious, although many daddy long legs do not dislike each others company and some actually form dense aggregations. The function of the social behaviour of daddy long legs is poorly understood and the explanations range from thermoregulation to defence. Although most individuals aggregating are adults, mating does not seem to explain this behaviour. The following video shows an instance of mass aggregation in Daddy long legs:

1 comment:

Phil said...

I've read in several places that harvestmen have a liking for the juice from fallen fruit, and there are certainly a lot of them on the ripening raspberries in my garden. That video clip is astonishing!