Smeagol Harvestmen Arachnids Named for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings

Summary: Smeagol harvestmen arachnids named for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings are eyeless and spider-like, according to research in ZooKeys Nov. 18, 2015.

Live male specimen, Iandumoema smeagol, foraging in its natural habitat, shows distinctive pale yellowish coloration: MSc. Rafael Fonseca-Ferreira, CC BY 4.0, via EurekAlert!

An eyeless, spider-like arachnid newly discovered in southeastern Brazil answers to the common name Smeagol, the pale-colored, secluded, secretive cave-dweller in The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, according to research published Nov. 18, 2015, by the open-access, peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

Iandumoema smeagol belongs in the daddy longlegs order Opiliones of the Arachnida class of harvestmen, mites, scorpions and scorpion-like solifuges, spiders and ticks. The eight-legged, oval-bodied invertebrate can be differentiated from spiders by its fused body and lack of fangs and venom. Arachnologists differentiate spider genera by the number and the placement of eyes. Most spiders exhibit three or four pairs of eyes whereas harvestmen have only one pair, when they have them.

Smeagol harvestmen find their way over silt substrates and wet walls near subterranean streams within the Lapa do Santo Antônio and Toca do Geraldo limestone caves in the southern São Francisco Craton of the Velhas river basin in the Monjolos region of northern Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil. Long legs guide Smeagol harvestmen through dark zones of constant temperatures and no light in Toca do Geraldo and twilight zones of little light and slight temperature changes in Lapa do Santo Antônio since the Brazilian arachnids lack dark- and light-adapted vision.

Figure 1 -- (a) map of study area at Monjolos municipality, Minas Gerais state, Brazil; (b) karst relief of Monjolos regions; (c) entrance of Toca do Geraldo cave, a limestone cave of Bambuí Geomorphological Unit: Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha et al., CC BY 4.0, via ZooKeys

The pale yellow-colored cave-dweller has no eyes at all. It is the second troglobitic (permanent cave-dwelling) harvestman to be discovered eyeless, unpigmented and unseeing in Brazil.

Smeagol daddy longlegs join Giupponia chagasi, discovered in 2002 by Abel Pérez-González and Adriano Brilhante Kury of the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro in two caves of the Serra do Ramalho karst area in western Bahia state in northeastern Brazil, in perfecting the troglomorphic (adaptable to cave darkness) attenuation of appendages (long-leggedness) and loss of eyes and of melanin (protective pigmentation against sunlight).

Smeagol’s pale, reclusive, slimy namesake keeps to a lifestyle that is reminiscent of the omnivorous, scavenging Gollum into which the Stoor Hobbit morphs. The Brazilian arachnid likes invertebrate carcasses as prey and survives ambient temperature of 22 to 24 degrees Celsius (71.6 to 75.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and a relative humidity of 80 percent.

Co-authors Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha and Maria Elina Bichuette of the Universidade de São Paulo and Rafael da Fonseca-Ferreira of the Universidade Federal de São Carlos mention three threats to the life cycles and natural histories of the 14 juvenile and mature specimens and the larger Smeagol harvestmen community.

Smeagol harvestmen need protection since “Projects for the installation of small hydroelectric dams and limestone extraction for cement production represent potential impacts on the immediate environment. Moreover, the extent of occurrence area of the species (4.6 km2) allied to the deforestation in the cave surroundings must place this species in a threatened category” tantamount to that of Smeagol’s Gollum during the competition for the Misty Mountains of Middle-earth’s Precioussssss ring.

Smeagol harvestmen's habitat -- entrance of Toca do Geraldo cave, a limestone cave of Bambuí Geomorphological Unit, where most of the studied specimens have been discovered: Dr. Maria Elina Bichuette, CC BY 4.0, via EurekAlert!

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Iandumoema smeagol: MSc. Rafael Fonseca-Ferreira, CC BY 4.0, via EurekAlert! @ http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/103504.php?from=312004

study area at Monjolos municipality: Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha et al., CC BY 4.0, via ZooKeys @ http://zookeys.pensoft.net//lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=zoom_figure&instance_id=11&article_id=6073

Toca de Geraldo cave: Dr. Maria Elina Bichuette, CC BY 4.0, via EurekAlert! @ http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/103505.php?from=312004

For further information:

Howard, Brian Clark. 19 November 2015. "New Arachnid Named for Lord of the Rings Character." National Geographic > Weird & Wild.
Available @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151119-lord-of-the-rings-arachnid-smeagol-harvestmen-science/

Pinto-da-Rocha, Ricardo, et al. 18 November 2015. "A New Highly Specialized Cave Harvestman from Brazil and the First Blind Species of the Genus: Iandumoema smeagol sp. n. (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae)." ZooKeys 537: 79-95. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.537.6073
Available @ http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=6073

Zookeys @ZooKeys_Journal. 20 November 2015. "#Smeagol, our new eyeless daddy longlegs species has sought some precious publicity in @NatGeo #Araneae #LotR." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ZooKeys_Journal/status/667723783340466176