Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma

Autotomy, the strategy of voluntarily releasing a leg during an encounter with a potential predator or in agonistic interactions between conspecifics, is common in animals. The potential costs of this behavior have been scarcely studied. In addition, locomotion and substrate-dependent performance mi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Dominguez, Marisol
Publicado: 2016
Materias:
Costa Rica
Eupnoi
Opiliones
Sclerosomatidae
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez
record_format dspace
spelling paper:paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez2025-07-30T17:52:41Z Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma Dominguez, Marisol Costa Rica Eupnoi Opiliones Sclerosomatidae Autotomy, the strategy of voluntarily releasing a leg during an encounter with a potential predator or in agonistic interactions between conspecifics, is common in animals. The potential costs of this behavior have been scarcely studied. In addition, locomotion and substrate-dependent performance might be affected by autotomy. We did a comparative and observational study to investigate whether losing legs affects the escape speed and trajectory of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma Pocock, 1903 (Eupnoi: Sclerosomatidae) on different substrates: soil (the least roughened), smooth bark and mossy bark (the most roughened) in a tropical premontane forest in Costa Rica. We observed that 71% of the individuals found were missing at least one leg. Harvestmen, regardless of leg condition, walked faster and made fewer turns in their trajectory in the soil. While climbing, they were faster on smooth bark than in moss. On all substrates, autotomized individuals were slower and had a more erratic trajectory than intact ones. The type of missing legs (sensory or locomotor) had no influence on the speed or trajectory. We experimentally induced autotomy and found that walking speed on soil decreases if individuals lose a leg. Our findings confirm that losing legs affects locomotion, and we provide novel insights on how locomotion in these harvestmen depends on surface roughness. Our data suggest that moss could be a type of substrate that requires more elaborate skills in balance, orientation and texture recognition than smooth bark. © The American Arachnological Society. Fil:Domínguez, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2016 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Costa Rica
Eupnoi
Opiliones
Sclerosomatidae
spellingShingle Costa Rica
Eupnoi
Opiliones
Sclerosomatidae
Dominguez, Marisol
Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
topic_facet Costa Rica
Eupnoi
Opiliones
Sclerosomatidae
description Autotomy, the strategy of voluntarily releasing a leg during an encounter with a potential predator or in agonistic interactions between conspecifics, is common in animals. The potential costs of this behavior have been scarcely studied. In addition, locomotion and substrate-dependent performance might be affected by autotomy. We did a comparative and observational study to investigate whether losing legs affects the escape speed and trajectory of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma Pocock, 1903 (Eupnoi: Sclerosomatidae) on different substrates: soil (the least roughened), smooth bark and mossy bark (the most roughened) in a tropical premontane forest in Costa Rica. We observed that 71% of the individuals found were missing at least one leg. Harvestmen, regardless of leg condition, walked faster and made fewer turns in their trajectory in the soil. While climbing, they were faster on smooth bark than in moss. On all substrates, autotomized individuals were slower and had a more erratic trajectory than intact ones. The type of missing legs (sensory or locomotor) had no influence on the speed or trajectory. We experimentally induced autotomy and found that walking speed on soil decreases if individuals lose a leg. Our findings confirm that losing legs affects locomotion, and we provide novel insights on how locomotion in these harvestmen depends on surface roughness. Our data suggest that moss could be a type of substrate that requires more elaborate skills in balance, orientation and texture recognition than smooth bark. © The American Arachnological Society.
author Dominguez, Marisol
author_facet Dominguez, Marisol
author_sort Dominguez, Marisol
title Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
title_short Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
title_full Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
title_fullStr Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
title_full_unstemmed Losing legs and walking hard: Effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus Prionostemma
title_sort losing legs and walking hard: effects of autotomy and different substrates in the locomotion of harvestmen in the genus prionostemma
publishDate 2016
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01618202_v44_n1_p76_Dominguez
work_keys_str_mv AT dominguezmarisol losinglegsandwalkinghardeffectsofautotomyanddifferentsubstratesinthelocomotionofharvestmeninthegenusprionostemma
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