WASHINGTON: Scientists in Brazil have discovered a new species of Harvestman, which has been dubbed with a name of Daddy longlegs after a playful-but-accurate reference to a character from the Lords of Rings Saga. They have uncovered a new species of an eyeless, cave-dwelling Harvestman, Iandumoema smeagol, the hapless hobbit who became slimy cave-dweller Gollum in J.R.R. Tolkien’s series of novels.
Christopher Buddle, arachnid expert of Canada’s McGill University, said the name of the Harvestman, Iandumoema smeagol, matches its biology and is quite interesting as a secretive cave-dweller. He cited an example that like Smeagol spent years isolated in a cave, eventually growing into the pale, secluded Gollum, the Daddy longlegs arachnid lost most of its pigmentation after generations of living in moist, dark caves. Harvestmen are basically arachnids and not spiders who belong to different order, Opiliones. Though, the harvestmen superficially resemble spiders, they have a single pair of eyes and a fused body structure that differs from spiders. Harvestmen are a diverse group of more than 6,500 species and those belong to hunters group are generally non-poisonous.
Norman I. Platnick, an arachnologist with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, calls the discovery as usual. Buddle added “Slowly but surely we pick away at discovering and naming our earth’s biodiversity”.
Scientists have discovered several species of harvestmen that make their homes underground. (It’s a good place to hide out if you don’t possess an invisibility-inducing ring like in “Lord of the Rings.”) But I. smeagol is the only known harvestman in the genus Iandumoema that is completely eyeless, and therefore completely blind.
The arachnid’s blindness is an example of troglomorphism, or a physical adaptation that results from living in the constant darkness of caves. Troglomorphisms such as blindness and loss of pigment are observed in many species of cave-dwelling animals, such as the olm (Proteus anguinus), a pale, eyeless salamander that inhabits the limestone caves of southern Europe.
In caves, harvestmen are found near to or in association with organic matter deposits or spots, under blocks and rocks, on the walls, and on the ceiling, exhibiting solitary or gregarious behavior (Reddell 2012). To date, eight species of troglobitic harvestmen have been described in Brazil, belonging to the families Gonyleptidae Sundevall, 1833 (seven species; one Pachylospeleinae and six from Pachylinae subfamily) and Escadabiidae Kury and Pérez 2003 (one species), in addition to several troglophile and trogloxene representatives (Trajano and Bichuette 2009, Willemart and Taques 2013). At least six other undescribed species has been reported as restricted to subterranean environments (Hara and Pinto-da-Rocha 2008, Willemart and Taques 2013).
