Spiders No.23 – Eyes of a Small Opilione. (A Harvestman)

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 7:08 pm

Leitz Ortholux microscope
4X Leitz projection eyepiece plus 1/3x relay lens

Image No.1 (cropped)
71 images at 5 micron increments
Nikon 10x Achromat objective
Diffused Fiber Optic Illumination

Image No.2 (cropped)
183 images at 5 micron increments
Olympus 10x Achromat objective
Diffused Fiber Optic Illumination

Image No.3 (cropped)
121 images at 5 micron increments
Olympus 10x Achromat objective
Diffused Fiber Optic Illumination

Canon 50D
Zerene and Photoshop processing.

Before the experts on this forum call me out for putting Opilione images in a spider series. Yes, I will admit that it is not a spider. It is however an arachnid like all spiders, so I hope I can get away with it.

An Opilione is best known as a harvestman or even more common as a daddy longlegs, although this name has also been given to the cellar spider Pholcus. The Opilione has eight legs, like a spider, but only has one body segment and does not produce silk. It also has far fewer eyes with only two. It has no fangs. It is well represented in nature with 7000 species.

Walt

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:48 am

Hey Walt. Very neet images. I don't recall ever hearing that Daddy Longlegs only had two eyes.

I find myself looking forward to early Saturday Mornings now though.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:27 pm

Hi Mitch. It was sort of news to me too. Charles K. had a great image of one sometime back showing the two eyes but I never looked close myself.
Walt

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:29 pm

Walt,

My old shots are here.

When most people see these the only impression they come away with are the long legs, but here we see aspects I find even more fascinating. No obvious "color" issues with the Olympus objective. Does it seem to match up pretty well with the Leitz eyepiece and relay?

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:10 pm

Hi Charles. The Olympus objective is a recent aquisition and these are some of my first images with it. It is good to know that your trained eye detects little color. It is an old short barrel design. As a 160mm tube lenght objective on a 170mm body tube instrument I am pleased with it so far. Working through my projection setup doesn't seem to present any issues.
Walt