#forsteropsalis

Tropical harvestman (Forsteropsalis bona)

EDIT: Since renamed to Ungoliant bona, after the even BIGGER giant spider in Tolkien's canon.

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Vada the lallies on that one.

Alas, I didn't find any Cave Wetas in the McCluggage Tunnel - instead, I found these enormous Harvestmen.

Fosteropsalis is a genus of 13 Neopilionid harvestmen endemic to New Zealand, with males having massively overdeveloped chelicerae that they use in combat against other males.

Fosteropsalis pureora has alpha, beta, and gamma males - the latter are a fraction of the size of the other two, avoid combat, and seem to be the result of males that lost a leg or two during development and instead focus on being sneaky mates.

They're opportunistic omnivores that both prey on other arthropods and scavenge dead animal matter. Some have been observed waiting underneath spiderwebs for discarded pieces of the spider's prey. One species, Forsteropsalis photophaga, is a specialist predator of New Zealand's famous glowworms.

There were also these - either a female or a subadult male.

Originally described as Megalopsalis marplesi, by Raymond 'Ray' Robert Forster (1922 – 2000) a New Zealand arachnologist and museum director, in honour of Brian John Marples (1907 – 1997), a British zoologist who spent most of his career in New Zealand and wrote about the native Opiliones amongst a wide range of other topics. In 2011 Australian arachnologist Christopher Taylor (who works here in Perth) renamed the species, to honour Forster as well.

A large and delightfully odd harvestman, spotted as we slid and slithered back down the track from the glowworms at Nicols Creek.

Females have chelicerae much more in keeping with the size of the rest of them, but males develop chelicerae so large they outweigh the rest of the body. The males fight for access to mates.

All six Forsteropsalis species are endemic to New Zealand, but this one is found on both the North and South Island, usually in damp sheltered locations like the Nicols Creek gorge, where they scavenge and hunt smaller animals.