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News & ArtsFriday, July 16, 2010
Animals Spider of the Day: Daddy Long-Legs
Posted by Lindy West on Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Let's talk etymology/entomology for a minute. Keep in mind that I am always right.
When I was growing up, "daddy long-legs" meant this dude:
- "Fuck your skink. I'm hungry."
They lived in the garden and kept the skink population under control. They're arachnids, but they are not spiders, because they do not have fangs that inject venom. They also do not spin webs. They look like an Advil with legs—they don't have a separate middle part and butt part (science term) like spiders do. Daddy long-legs.
This creature we called a "mosquito hawk":
- "I mostly just flop around and then die."
Because supposedly it devours hella mosquitoes per day. I neither know nor care if that's true.
And this was just called an "uuuuuuhhhhh-get-it-off-meeee!":
- Silent as the grave.
At my parents' cabin, these dudes were forever dangling down from the ancient exposed fiberglass above the shower. You'd be all nude and shampooing, feeling like a million bucks, and then all of a sudden like three of these would be on your wet face. Jerks.
Anyway, only one of those is a daddy long-legs, and it's the first one. Everyone else needs to shut up. Good day.
Supplementary materials:
1
As a kid, I used to love picking the legs off of those things. Great fun, and it made me the fine human being I am today.
2
We definitely called the middle one (the crane fly) daddy long legs when I was a kid. Luckily, we didn't have the other two to worry about. Yuck.
4
Daddy long legs is the first one and they ARE one of the most venemous spiders in North America, however their mouth are so small the only way you could come in contact with their venom is if you had an open wound they decided to spit in. I know this to be true because I am arachnophobic and studied the shit out of my nemeses.
7
Those "mosquito hawk" things scared the shit out of me the first time I saw one. We don't have them in Australia, and although I'm used to all the 'scary' Australian things, I was rather terrified the first time I saw what appeared to be a GIANT MOSQUITO buzzing around inside the house. After consulting the internet for a while, I learned that they're pretty much harmless, and now catch 'em and take them outside. And in those brief moments between finally catching the damn thing and getting out the door, a tiny part of my brain still insists on telling me that "this time it's actually a giant mutant mosquito and it's going to stick it's needle-y thing into your hands and you're going to die from it, somehow, oh god oh god oh god".
8
@4 not according to the almighty wikipedia... :)
@6 correct. they eat no bugs.
And I may as well chime in with the "But Daddy Long-Legs aren't spiders..."
@6 correct. they eat no bugs.
And I may as well chime in with the "But Daddy Long-Legs aren't spiders..."
9
Have you ever seen a swarm of Daddy Long-legs?
I used to see them in Central Texas all the time. Hiking through the greenbelts in Austin, you can sometimes find tens of thousands of them hugging the undersides of limestone cliffs. They move in a creepy unison, and in numbers like that, you can actually hear them as they do it.
It's a throbbing Daddy Long-leg symphony. You'd love it, Lindy.
Here is a video of a very small bunch. Imagine an entire cliff face covered in 'em.
I used to see them in Central Texas all the time. Hiking through the greenbelts in Austin, you can sometimes find tens of thousands of them hugging the undersides of limestone cliffs. They move in a creepy unison, and in numbers like that, you can actually hear them as they do it.
It's a throbbing Daddy Long-leg symphony. You'd love it, Lindy.
Here is a video of a very small bunch. Imagine an entire cliff face covered in 'em.
10
Lindy has everything in this article dead on according to the "I'm also always right" rule I generally live by.
Except the preferred name for the second one is "skeeter eater" as #3 points out. "Mosquito hawk" is, however, also acceptable. Except for the fact that any sane person would MUCH rather say "skeeter eater" than "mosquito hawk" at any and every given opportunity.
Except the preferred name for the second one is "skeeter eater" as #3 points out. "Mosquito hawk" is, however, also acceptable. Except for the fact that any sane person would MUCH rather say "skeeter eater" than "mosquito hawk" at any and every given opportunity.
11
Yes, @8/4, apparently they are Opiliones, or "harvestmen." And apparently they have no venom glands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones
What you are maybe thinking of, 4, is the Cellar Spider, Pholcidae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_spid…
An urban legend states that Pholcidae are the most venomous spiders in the world, but because their fangs are unable to penetrate human skin, they are harmless to humans. However, recent research has shown that pholcid venom has a relatively weak effect on insects. In the MythBusters episode "Daddy Long-Legs" it was shown that the spider's fangs (0.25mm) could penetrate human skin (0.1mm) but that only a very mild burning feeling was felt for a few seconds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones
What you are maybe thinking of, 4, is the Cellar Spider, Pholcidae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_spid…
An urban legend states that Pholcidae are the most venomous spiders in the world, but because their fangs are unable to penetrate human skin, they are harmless to humans. However, recent research has shown that pholcid venom has a relatively weak effect on insects. In the MythBusters episode "Daddy Long-Legs" it was shown that the spider's fangs (0.25mm) could penetrate human skin (0.1mm) but that only a very mild burning feeling was felt for a few seconds.
12
At Girl Scout camp, we were told that daddy long legs (the first one, duh!) ate mosquitos like nobody's business. So every night I would go around to all the other tents to collect their daddy long legs and put them above my bed. I was quite fond of them.
13
The correct name for a Daddy-Longlegs is Harvestman or Harvestmen, they are arachnids but not spiders, like a scorpion is an arachnid, but also not a spider. The second picture is that of a crane fly, very common in North America. The third is that of a Cellar spider, which normally resides in the cellars of houses and storage areas that are infrequently used or visited. Only the cellar spider can bite and inject venom, although you must admittedly continuously provoke and agitate the spider to forcde it to bite, unless there is some other insect on you and you get bit as the spider gets its prey.
15
Oh man, if only I had specifically noted that "they're arachnids, but they are not spiders" and linked to the Wikipedia page for each creature AND embedded that Mythbusters clip IN THE POST. That sure would have saved us a bunch of redundancy in these comments!
17
@9 Okay, you just made my skin crawl. I love Daddy Long Legs, they were pest control in my room growing up. But to think of that sound, ugh.
18
I am so serious when I say that daddy long legs freak me out more than any REAL spider in existence (except the Australian thing-that-must-not-be-named, thanks Lindy). It's irrational and ridiculous, but it is true. I used to refuse to go for walks in the woods for fear I would meet one on the path. I think it's the jerky way they move...
20
Yep, Daddy Long Legs is the first one, Skeeter Eater is the second. Those were the only two bugs I wasn't afraid of in childhood--the cicadas kept me terrified all summer long. First there was the larval stage where they'd creep around and stick to things they shouldn't be able to stick to. Then there was the winged stage. We don't talk about that part.
22
I am thinking that the wikipedia entry for the pholcidae(3rd one) needs some fact checking.
"Pholcids are natural predators of the Tegenaria species, and are known to attack and eat redback spiders and huntsman spiders [2][3]. "
Aren't the huntsman spiders those huge ones that were hanging above the ceiling fan that you posted the other day? I have a hard time believing those tiny Pholcids would be predators to the huntsman.
"Pholcids are natural predators of the Tegenaria species, and are known to attack and eat redback spiders and huntsman spiders [2][3]. "
Aren't the huntsman spiders those huge ones that were hanging above the ceiling fan that you posted the other day? I have a hard time believing those tiny Pholcids would be predators to the huntsman.
23
@22 - Interesting point. Although the references given in the Wiki article point to dead pages, it seems that the Queensland Government page was simply moved, and is now here: http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/…
On that page, it states that their main prey is "insects and other spiders. It is a highly effective predator on other spiders including Redbacks and large Grey Huntsman (Holconia immanis)." You can click through to the page ON the Grey Huntsman (don't do so if you don't want to see a picture of it, though) which ALSO states that it is preyed upon by pholcidae. And geckos. Maybe this particular type of Huntsman are really ...weak?
On that page, it states that their main prey is "insects and other spiders. It is a highly effective predator on other spiders including Redbacks and large Grey Huntsman (Holconia immanis)." You can click through to the page ON the Grey Huntsman (don't do so if you don't want to see a picture of it, though) which ALSO states that it is preyed upon by pholcidae. And geckos. Maybe this particular type of Huntsman are really ...weak?
24
You're in the puget sound area now, #3 is a daddy long legs, #2 is a crane fly, you only see #1 about 2 days out of the year whereas you see #3 all the time because you're inside more than you're outside.
Also,
http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dial…
Also,
http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dial…
25
Lindy West, I agree 100% with you. I'd agree 110% except we called #2 "mosquito eaters" and also "110%" is lame.
27
@24 - I have to laugh. I was cruising through the dialect study you linked to as I do every few years when I am bored. From there was looking up the etymology of daddy-longlegs and came across the three different species that are called DL's. From Google through wikipedia eventually came here.
Just found that amusing :).
Thanks for the useful info, Lindy!
Just found that amusing :).
Thanks for the useful info, Lindy!
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