Scientists named a newly discovered arachnid commonly referred to as a “daddy long legs” after “Smeagol”, the golem from J.R.R. Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. “What is remarkable about this species is that its got a rather nifty name – a name that resonates with the public – and its biology is quite interesting as a secretive cave-dweller”. Harvestmen itself has a diverse group having more than 6,500 species. Buddle added “Slowly but surely we pick away at discovering and naming our earth’s biodiversity”.
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While there are cave-dwelling harvestmen that can survive above the ground and even regularly go out in order to feed or mate, there are a few, such as Iandumoema smeagol, that never leave their underground habitats.
A total of 14 individuals of the new species were observed by the scientists. It evolved to become completely pale and to have no eyes at all, typically living close to water in caves.
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According to the arachnologists, the newfound species is the most highly modified in the genus and only the second cave-dwelling harvestman with no eyes for Brazil. From where the new species has been found is not protected and it give concern to researchers who think that the species is at risk of extinction. This record corroborates the hypothesis of an exclusively troglobitic genus. As an adaptation, the new harvestman species is eyeless and has a reduced amount of melanistic pigmentation, which shows through its pale yellowish colours. In 2008, another team of researchers discovered a similar-looking harvestman in the limestone caves of Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil (the same state where the new Smeagol harvestman was discovered). But unlike I. smeagol, the cave-dwelling species I. setimapocu has a pair of pale-colored eyes.
