Armored Harvestmen

Photo of an armored harvestman walking on the ground
Scientific Name
Members of suborder Laniatores
Family
Opiliones (harvestmen), an order in the class Arachnida (spiders, scorpions, mites)
Description

Armored harvestmen have spines on their fingerlike mouthparts (pedipalps). Unlike other harvestmen, members of this suborder of so-called daddy longlegs do not usually have very long legs. Learn more about armored harvestmen, daddy longlegs, and other harvestmen (order Opiliones) on their group page.

Other Common Names
Armoured Harvestmen
Usually found under rocks or logs or in the leaf litter of wooded areas.
Unlike other groups of harvestmen, which are usually scavengers, the armored harvestmen are predators, capturing and eating small insects and other animals they can subdue.
Media Gallery
Photo of an armored harvestman walking on the ground
Members of the armored harvestman suborder typically have rather short legs and live on the ground under rocks, logs, and leaf litter. They are predators.
David Bruns
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Photo of an armored harvestman walking on the ground
Similar Species
About Land Invertebrates in Missouri
Invertebrates are animals without backbones, including earthworms, slugs, snails, and arthropods. Arthropods—invertebrates with “jointed legs” — are a group of invertebrates that includes crayfish, shrimp, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and insects. There may be as many as 10 million species of insects alive on earth today, and they probably constitute more than 90 percent all animal species.