Britain's most reliable spider blog.

Time to dispel a few myths. Oh daddy-oh, there are quite a few here....

It's an issue I've meant to address for ages on arachnipedia. 

Daddy-long-legs spiders.

Now 

there's an interesting piece of folklore around these (or some of their closely related arthropods). Even comedian Ricky Gervais plays on this completely unsubstantiated garbage in his stand-up performance 'Animals'.

Quoting the joke (In reference to a cranefly): "Yeah, you're unsteady on your feet, but you have the most powerful venom known to man". Cranefly: "But I have no means of administering it - I have no teeth!" 

Well, it goes something like that anyway.

I have to admit that two or three years ago, I wasn't too sure about the facts on this eit

her!

There are three very common arthropods we all see in the UK with the 'daddy-long-legs' characteristics. And these are the facts.

(1) Crane-fly/Daddy-long-legs: A seasonal insect seen worldwide and common in British summers/autumn. Particularly irritating due to its gangling legs and attraction to light. It does not bite. The ones with a sharpened extrusion at the end of their abdomen are females - this is an ovipositor and not a stinger. Males have a blunted end to their abdomen. There are several species of this insect. Some look like giant gnats. The only threat this animal poses is that it lays its eggs in the ground and resulting larvae are the feared Leatherjackets that can eat awayy at roots. This insect is not venomous in any way. It is not a spider OR an arachnid of any type.

(2) Harvestman: These are a bit of an anomaly. They are an eight-legged invertebrate animal, which belong to a sub-category of arachnid called Opil

iones. There are thousands of these species. Far more than there are spiders. I wouldn't even start to go into sub-species, because I wouldn't even know what the hell I was talking about! Out of my depth there!

Harvestman are, while being arachnids, not actually spiders, and are more closely related to scorpions, ticks and some lice. But they are not insects and do not have a significant bite!

(3) Pholcidae/Pholcid Spider/Cellar Spider: (TOP PHOTO) This is a reclusive arachnid of the sub-species araneomorphae, which is common and spread worldwide. It is a spindly and fragile animal, which has uncate fangs. Uncate fangs are small non-protrudin

g chelicerae, designed for killing prey of a similar size. In the USA, the feared Brown Recluse/Fiddle Spider also has uncate chelicerae and can kill small animals such as lizards. There is no proof that any spider in the frail Pholcidae genus could be dangerous. 

In 2004, the US television series MythBusters set out to test the age-old 'They're the most dangerous animal on the planet, but don't have teeth big enough' theory. 

Result = Itchy arms from Pholcid spiders (which probably do give a nip) and that was it!

Incidentally, the spindly, dainty weakling that is the cellar/pholcid spider, eats (in the UK) all Tegenaria species, mouse spiders and much much more! In America, it is known for predating on the black widow. And in Australia, it eats the Redback and its much larger cousin the huntsman. Watch this NetworkTen video from Australia  

And we worry that it might bite us 'cos of a 90s urban legend?