5 ms·
Note that even though Opiliones aren't spiders, Pholcidae - which are also commonly called daddy longlegs - definitely are. This article is about Opiliones.
by strken 3y ago
Note that even though Opiliones aren't spiders, Pholcidae - which are also commonly called daddy longlegs - definitely are. This article is about Opiliones.
- 13of40 3y agoThanks for clearing that up for me. When I was a kid we had the bumbly non-spider ones in the garden, but now we've got the sinister spider ones in every corner of the basement and garage. I guess the leg thing is convergent evolution?
- dwringer 3y agoThough I'm not a particularly big fan of them, the Pholcidae spiders are very nonintrusive, nonaggressive, nearly weightless and paper-thin, and do an excellent job eating venomous spiders and unwanted insects. I tend to leave them undisturbed in out-of-the-way corners when possible.
- bonton89 3y agoThis is my policy as well. If one comes rappelling down on me in my basement I tend to just blow on them so they fly away elsewhere. Every one of them that eats earwigs can stay as far as I'm concerned.
- krylon 3y agoI used to kill them mercilessly, until I saw like three "outdoor" spiders ending up as meals in their webs in my apartment within days of each other. I have since left them to their own devices. I am not a big fan of spiders, but these critters are really effective pest controls. FWIW, they tend to not rebuild webs in places where they got destroyed repeatedly, so if you can do that without killing the spider, it will likely move to a more quiet location. Their webs - I learned at the time - are not sticky, unlike most other spider species' webs, and they do not tear down and rebuild them, rather they extend them over time and happily take over abandoned webs.
- bee_rider 3y agoYep, these are friend-spiders, if you don’t like spiders. Same as jumping spiders. They eat other spiders! What more could somebody want? These spiders have decided to live life with PvP mode on, very cool.
- cameronh90 3y agoAlso note that in the UK, daddy long legs refers to Crane Flies, which is neither of those.
- davidmurdoch 3y agoWe have three species named daddy long legs? Why are humans like this?
- mistermann 3y agoWhat kind of a name is that in the first place!!
- joshspankit 3y agoThis reminds me that gen alpha has a whole different experience here lol
- krylon 3y agoThey do have long legs compared to their body size, so the name is not entirely inaccurate. Unlike guinea pigs or elephant shrews.
- xnx 3y ago"Naming things is hard" seems to be a universal truth.
- Loughla 3y agoOpiliones are what we call Daddy Longlegs in the midwest. The spider ones we call house spiders, or attic spiders. Fun fact - Daddy longlegs smell - interesting - when you pick them up. It's not bad, but it's not good. It's. Different. It smells how you would design mint if you had only smelled chewing gum instead of the plant. Not sure what chemical it is that makes them mint flavored.
- Andrex 3y agoDoes it smell like a stinkbug/coriander? I confess I've handled daddy longlegs my entire life but never thought to smell them lol.
- Loughla 3y agoNo, not really. It smells pleasant, like mint gum. I've never been brave enough to chew one up, though.
- justinclift 3y ago> Not sure what chemical it is that makes them mint flavored. So, do they taste like mint too? ;)
- krylon 3y agoAccording to Wikipedia, all species have stink glands, but I have never noticed any smell about them. They sometimes will eject a leg when handled, and the leg will continue twitching for a while, similar to what some lizards do.
- gorlilla 3y agoThey have a musky scent for sure. It's far more noticeable when you encounter a clump of opiliones. I can't say Ive ever smelled anything minty though.
- cortesoft 3y agoInteresting… in California, it is reversed… we call Pholcidae ‘daddy long legs’ and Opiliones we call harvestmen.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoThanks for this! I was looking at Wikipedia for daddy longlegs and was confused when it said pholcidae were spiders.
- throwanem 3y agoThat had me seriously confused as to what they could be talking about, because I've seen how many eyes daddy longlegs have. I've never really encountered that common name applied to harvestmen, so presumably that's a regional thing from some other region.