Ok - I will admit... if you don't like spiders, you probably won't like this shot. Though technically, this isn't a spider. It is in the arachnid class, but it is in the Opiliones order.

But either way, they are much more alien looking than spiders (and if I'm honest, much uglier!).

Their common names are Harvestmen or Daddy-Longlegs, and you've likely seen them before but probably not like this.

They differ from spiders in a number of ways. First, they possess no silk glands nor venom glands - so they're completely harmless (though this one seems to have something that looks like semi-large fangs). Their body segments are fused (spiders have two body segments - cephalothorax and abdomen), and only have a single pair of eyes (spiders have four pairs of eyes). Harvestmen can also eat solid foods, whereas spiders are only able to ingest liquids.

Ok - if you're still here with me... you must be willing to see the shot...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/11. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Obviously, the legs on this guy weren't even going to come close to staying in the frame if I was going to get the same level of detail on the body. Most of those legs don't even have the first joint in the shot. The body on this harvestman was maybe 5mm long, so extremely tiny.

Pretty hard to get the detail here but I think I did pretty well.

My apologies if you're freaked out by that shot...

- Bill