Mother Longlegs

''The fragile build of this enormous harvestman belies its deadliness. An exclusive dweller of the island's bamboo forests, mother longlegs are spending most of their time standing motionlessly, their bodies elevated above the canopy and their legs nearly invisible between the stalks. Like most arachnids, they have poor vision and orient themselves mostly by touch and by sensing vibrations. They can precisely locate moving entities that pass by, impaling suitable prey with their long tibial spurs. Despite their size, mother longlegs are pretty weak animals, unable to get up again if their bodies are brought down on the ground. Instead of picking prey up with their grasping pedipalps they instead employ their modified, prehensile ovipositor to drag it up, then hold it in their pedipalps while tearing it apart with their chelicerae. Mother longlegs are one of the few inhabitants of the Ark that regularly prey on otherwise alpha predators.''

''They are parthenogenous and produce a lot of small eggs that are buried in the soil. Young mother longlegs are quite different from the adults, being pretty agile predators with shorter legs and longer pedipalp spines. Instead of waiting for prey to pass by and stab them with tibial spurs, the juveniles are active nocturnal hunters that grab and subdue their food with their pedipalps instead. The subadult stage is remarkable for having a type of snorkel on its back; this organ is essential for the final molt, which happens in a body of water to support the animal's weight until the exoskeleton is hardened and allows the adult to walk out in its typical erect posture.''