 Spiders in Australia
What is a Daddy-long-legs?
Daddy-long-legs: spiders
The animal which most biologists call Daddy-long-legs, is a spider,
Pholcus phalangioides, which belongs to the spider family Pholcidae,
order Araneida, class Arachnida. It has two parts to the body,
separated by a narrow waist. It has eight eyes and eight very long thin
legs. Pholcids often live in webs in the corners of houses, sometimes
in bathrooms. Daddy-long-legs spiders (or pholcids) kill their prey
using venom injected through fangs. Digestion is external, with fluids
being squirted onto the prey item and the resulting juices sucked up by
the spider.
 Daddy-long-legs-harvestmen
The other eight-legged invertebrates that are sometimes called
Daddy-long-legs, are members of the order Opiliones or Opilionida in
the class Arachnida. Another common name for these arachnids is
'harvestmen'. Unlike spiders, their bodies do not have a 'waist', they
do not produce silk and they normally have only one pair of eyes. They
do not have venom glands or fangs, although they may produce defense
fluids. Most harvestmen eat smaller invertebrates but some eat fungi or
plant material and others feed on carcasses of dead mammals and birds.
Digestion is internal and some solid food is taken in, which is
uncharacteristic for arachnids. You usually do not find harvestmen
inside houses.
There is no evidence in the scientific literature to suggest that
Daddy-long-legs spiders are dangerously venomous. Daddy-long-legs have
venom glands and fangs but their fangs are very small. The jaw bases
are fused together, giving the fangs a narrow gape that would make
attempts to bite through human skin ineffective.
However, Daddy-long-legs spiders can kill and eat other spiders, including Redback spiders whose venom can be fatal to humans.
Behavioural and structural characteristics, such as silk wrapping of
prey using their long legs, are very important in the Daddy-long-legs'
ability to immobilise and kill Redbacks.
This myth is also explained at the following web site:
University of California Riverside Department of Entomology: Daddy-longlegs Myth http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html
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