Newly discovered eyeless harvestman named after Smeagol from Lord of the Rings

Newly discovered eyeless harvestman named after Smeagol from Lord of the Rings
Science! By Dave Gonzales Nov. 27, 2015 10:28 am

Don’t tell Gollum there’s a new Smeagol in town. Scentists in Brazil have discovered a new species of troglobitic harvestman that makes its whole life in dank, dark caves. The harvestman (a type of spider-like creature also known as “daddy longlegs”) is only one of two of its kind that have no eyes because of where it has adapted to life. This isn’t exactly like, but is pretty close to the sad tale of Smeagol the Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, a sad man that got transformed into the creature Gollum by coveting the dark magic of the ring in his lake cave.

The scientists at the Institute of Bioscience at the University of Sao Paulo who discovered the blind harvestman must have been Lord of the Rings fans because they gave the new creepy-crawly the official name Iandumoema smeagol in honor of the literary character.

The new smeagol daddy long legs lives in damp parts of dark caves in Brazil and because of the lack of light has evolved less melanin and has a clear-yellowish color on the body. The group of smeagols was found to stick near the tiny streams of water running down the humid cave’s wall, just like how Gollum liked to stick close to the dark lake in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.

Apparently this new species has an energetic adolescent phase where the iandumoema smeagol will scurry around the cave wall, investigating what it finds looking for food. Researchers who observed a juvenile smeagol said it was “scavenging the expired carcasses of invertebrates.” Which…does sound like Gollum the more you picture it.

More:
http://www.geek.com/science/newly-discovered-eyeless-harvestman-named-after-smeagol-from-lord-of-the-rings-1640540/