Meet Phalangium opilio, one of the UK’s most common harvestmen! 🕷️ Males have striking horn-like chelicerae, as in the photo. Join our UK Harvestmen webinar with @megabunus.bsky.social on 30th December 2025. 🌎 🧪 Sign up: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1502201859... @britishspiders.bsky.social

Very excited for this one - it's going to be all about those super long legs. Why so long? How do they work? How do these arboreal species live? See you then!

We've had a few folks asking for the recording of this session - this is still available for those that have missed the event. A big focus on behaviour and reproduction so please get in touch if you'd like to see it! @biologicalrecording.co.uk bsky.app/profile/biol...

Think it’s a spider? Think again! 🕷️ Opilio canestrini is a harvestman—one of the UK’s most visible urban arachnids. Join @megabunus.bsky.social on 30 Dec 2025 (18:30–20:00) for a deep dive into arboreal harvestmen ecology. 🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1502201859... @britishspiders.bsky.social

Beneath stones, soil & darkness... 🕷️ Discover the secret lives of Subterranean Harvestmen with @megabunus.bsky.social on 5th Feb 2026 (£12.50). Learn about rare species, new discoveries & the value of ongoing field recording. 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/subterrane... @britishspiders.bsky.social

🕷️ Britain’s craziest creature? Meet Megabunus diadema — a harvestman with eyes on a spiky turret! Not a spider, but part of its own Order: Opiliones. Learn more in our UK Harvestmen webinar on 5 Feb 2026: 🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1720584467... @britishspiders.bsky.social @megabunus.bsky.social

Thanks to those that attended the terrestrial harvestmen webinar! Lovely to speak to you and great questions asked. Tune in for the next one - arboreal harvestmen!

Garden wildlife. These Harvestmen (Opiliones) are quite active in the garden at night at the moment. Thanks to Esmond Brown @chalkspring.bsky.social for confirming the ID as Odiellus spinosus. @britishspiders.bsky.social #londonwildlife

Out of the wind and into the microscopy - Critically Endangered in GB, Zora armillata has to be the species of the day.

🕷️ Meet Scotolemon doriae – Britain’s weirdest arachnid? Bright orange, stumpy & newly arrived in the UK. Learn more with ‪‪ @megabunus.bsky.social at the entoLEARN webinar, 27 Oct (18:30–20:00). @britishspiders.bsky.social Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/terrestria...

Log-flipping season! 🍂 You’ll know the woodlice & centipedes under logs, but what about harvestmen? 🕷️ Discover the UK’s fascinating ground-dwelling species in our webinar with @megabunus.bsky.social, on 27 October. 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1493393342... @britishspiders.bsky.social

The BENHS @britentsoc.bsky.social harvestman course is in full swing! @britishspiders.bsky.social

Join me this Saturday for some harvestman ID time - we still have a few spaces left! @britishspiders.bsky.social #harvestmen #opilionee

BENHS Dinton Pastures – October 4th 2025 An Introduction to the Identification of UK Spiders – Michael Davis and William Blumsom Gain the knowledge to identify common spider families and species. Book a place by mailing, with contact phone: [email protected] Image: Steven Falk

Do you do moth trapping in the UK? We'd love your help! 💡 At @ukceh.bsky.social we're training & testing AI to detect multiple moths in a single image. Send us top-down photos of multiple moths on egg trays to support this work. More info & form: forms.gle/e3HzBPEd7RVV... #mothsmatter #TeamMoth

Opilio canestrinii, another #harvestman disturbed by same garden tidy as Odiellus spinosus below. At just right angle to catch bright afternoon sunlight, highlighting long, whip-like, sensitive second leg pair with which this poor-sighted animal navigates its surroundings. Bungay, Suffolk, England.

Tune in to Suffolk Radio - Gen X Radio to hear me harp on about spiders at around 10.20 tomorrow (Friday) morning if you've got nothing better to do ;) It's house spider season so open to answer a myriad of questions too! share.google/9OQJ9pA8lGFu...

Eight legs, but not spiders! 🕷️ From giants with legs 11× their body length to species that gather by the hundred, UK harvestmen are full of surprises. Discover them in our entoLEARN course, 27 Oct 2025: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1493393342... @megabunus.bsky.social @britishspiders.bsky.social

Shout out to BENHS for another fab workshop - hoppers are absolutely fascinating! @britentsoc.bsky.social

Botany day and trip to the plunge pool - Forest of Dean might well be my new home soon

Is there a collective noun for #Opiliones? Here is a clump of male Leiobunum rotundum seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes, 12/08/25 @megabunus.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social

Last (professional) invert survey of 2025. Huge thanks to colleagues and friends for making this a great season, not a bad way to end the year.

A superb example of the harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus sensu stricto, seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes, 16/07/25 @megabunus.bsky.social #Opilione @opiliones.bsky.social

I enjoy encountering the odd #harvestman when examining rocks and trees for #lichens. Another ancient and successful form of life. This is Opilio canestrinii, clinging to a tree-trunk in Loddon, Norfolk, England. Harvestmen tend to mature for autumn, and this is the first adult I've seen this year.

Harvestmen ento learn courses open for booking! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/terrestria... @biologicalrecording.co.uk

In bookshops from 30th January and available now on pre-order, @rlewington2.bsky.social's authoritative and exquisitely illustrated new @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social pocket guide to Britain's commonest and most easily recognizable spiders. Highly recommended! #spiders #arachnology

Opilio saxatilis is one of my favourite #harvestmen. Scattered records across Norfolk, this species is found in rough grassland from clifftops to churchyards and gardens. The underside of the coxae have dark marks, a feature it shares with the much scarcer Opilio parietinus.

Want to take part in a research project for flower crab spiders? Follow the link and share your insights! foragingecology.com/spider-spies/

Trevor Pendleton getting to grips with Megabunus - some nice footage here and tips. @britishspiders.bsky.social @megabunus.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social youtu.be/wljOyxjXibM?...

1/2 #speciesaday no. 560 (last one today) is Homalenotus quadridentatus. A spiny, sluggish, flat-bodied and short-legged harvestman with a waffle-like pattern on the body. Commonest when sieving big clumps of moss in chalk pits on the Downs but also turns up elsewhere. Field-identifiable.

Little Salti on the wall at @morethanadodo.bsky.social for today's @britentsoc.bsky.social members day! No sign of a harvestmen as of yet.... #arachnids @britishspiders.bsky.social

A nice little Clubiona comta shivering in the Ivy. #Arachnids #Spiders #VC55 #macrophotography #macro #OMSystem

Diving head first into the wonderful world of wasps (and bees!) 🐝

Hi folks, how are we doing? I've been somewhat sporadic with BlueSky over the past few months but spring is just around the corner - time to share our invertebrate sightings! Looking forward to a busy survey season and catching up with you all. Picture of my gecko for attention 😉

Wonderful podcast episode all about harvestmen: shows.acast.com/the-critter-...

Top 100! 📸 This photo of mating harvestmen (Dicranopalpus ramosus) made it to the top 100 of 'Close-up Photographer of the Year' @cupoty.bsky.social - the annual top international #macrophotography awards. Grateful to the judges to be selected, and to be among amazing finalists! #opiliones

The strange 'Orange-peel' Harvestman Scotolemon doriae at Radford Park, Plymouth, Devon today. It lives underground and is only found in a few sites in the UK.

Sub zero temperatures last night and decidedly frosty in Earlham Cemetery at lunchtime but still a couple of harvestmen hanging on in there. #Harvestmen

Hi all, we are looking to showcase your arachnid photos in the BAS newsletter! Pls send to [email protected] with photographer name (be sure to get their permission if sending on their behalf). Your photo may even make the front cover 😉 🕷 🕸 @britishspiders.bsky.social

LRES Newsletter 72 - January 2025 The Ray Spider, a charming addition to Leicestershire's fauna. #Arachnids #Spiders #VC55 #UKWildlife #Insects #entomology

New spider book!🕷 @rlewington2.bsky.social has produced this beautiful guide to some of our UK species. A while ago I provided 'models' of cave-dwelling sps. V. happy to get a copy of the finished book as thanks😊 Buy it. And make 2025 the year you get into spiders! @britishspiders.bsky.social

Huge thanks to those submitting #harvestmen records and getting in touch - I'm currently chipping away at the backlog of unverified records and e-mails! Exciting times to have so many people engaged with our eight-legged friends. Keep it coming! #irecord @britishspiders.bsky.social

Be on the lookout for Dicranopalpus larvatus, getting records from all over - winter maturing species, quite small and v distinctive! Not surprised to see them venture further/see increased sightings @britishspiders.bsky.social #harvestmen srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal.php/p...

10, 2 and 1 km squares showing coverage of combined records of all species of harvestmen found in Norfolk. Data up to October 2023, map generated using QGIS. Looking forward to seeing the results of adding the 2024 records to my species maps. A job to tide me through the winter. #harvestmen

1 / 5 : The fourth spider book this week is unquestionably the most outstanding of all the literature on British (and Irish) spiders ever produced. It is The History of the Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland by John Blackwall #spiders

Hey Coleopterists, here's an adorable Poggo. Drop me some suggestions for folks to follow here! #coleoptera #pogonocherus #entomology #beetles #cerambycidae #britishinsects #whatsthedealwithhashtagshere

Who here loves arachnids? Drop us a follow and get in touch! @britishspiders.bsky.social #arachnids #spiders #harvestmen

Hey bluesky! Let's kick this off with some funky wasps from this seasons' surveys... #hymenoptera #entomology #britishinsects #dowedohashtagshere

Baby opiliones 🧵 A few weeks ago, I shared this harvestman egg (on X). It was progressing quite well. You can see the eyes in this image. It is a Nelima gothica species which can be quite scarce in places. The female laid the eggs in my vivarium while I had her queued for photographing.