Harvestman ID

[serendipity]

Is this Rilaena triangularis. Im not sure as the abdomen looks a diffrent shape to the one Arp IDed for me. Also why am i always more confident when tryin to ID other peoples beasts than my own ? By the way have to give props to my partner for taking the pic, she done good

[Pudding4brains]

Howdy,

Originally Posted by serendipity

Is this Rilaena triangularis. Im not sure as the abdomen looks a diffrent shape to the one Arp IDed for me.

I'd say it is Abdomen shape varies greatly with age, level of starvation, sex (chuck-fulla-eggs or not) etc. What you want to look for is the relatively short legs (well, maby "medium" in this species) and the very big ocularium (the eyes) with clear, but small thorns/teeth. The ocularium size is most extremely evident in juveniles and sub-adults, but even in adults it's still clearly larger than say Phalangium opilio (which also has longer legs).

The only other species with similar legs and ocularium are in the genus Platybunus (Rilaena used to be Platybunus too), but on those the ocularium is wider -> the eyes are further apart, making the ocularium about as wide as long.

Hope it helps to make you more confident next time
Cheers, Arp

[serendipity]

Thanks Arp. it may make me a bit more confident but i will still ask the good people on the WAB for confirmation. Even if i think i know what it is!