Are daddy long legs poisonous?

Are daddy long legs poisonous

The adults are on the wing during the late summer and are common in gardens and fields, often coming indoors. They rarely feed at this time, concentrating on mating and laying their eggs among the grass. The urban myth that daddy longlegs are venomous is just that – a myth!

No, daddy long legs are not poisonous to humans:

Not spidersDaddy long legs are actually harvestmen, which are not spiders and do not produce venom.
No fangsDaddy long legs do not have the fangs of a spider and rarely bite.
Mild venomSome species of daddy long legs produce a mild venom that is unlikely to be dangerous to humans.
Defensive secretionsSome species of daddy long legs release defensive secretions that can be toxic to small animals if ingested.

The myth that daddy long legs are poisonous may have originated from confusion with certain species of spiders.

Daddy’s long legs are generally safe and not poisonous. They don’t have fangs or venom glands and can’t bite. However, some daddy-long legs release defensive secretions that can be toxic to small animals if ingested.

The term “daddy long legs” can refer to several insects or arachnids, including Crane flies, Carpenter spiders, Harvested spiders, and Monkey spiders.

The venom of cellar and other pholcid spiders is relatively mild by spider venom standards. Symptoms of anaphylaxis from being bitten by a daddy-long-legs spider include:

Hives
Itching
Flushed or pale skin
Low blood pressure
Swollen tongue or throat
Weak and rapid pulse
Nausea
Vomiting

No — that’s purely a myth. Cellar spiders, or daddy longlegs, can bite humans, but while they do have venom, it’s barely potent enough to kill insects, so it’s utterly harmless to us. (They are also very timid and would much rather escape, so bites are rare.)

Is it true that daddy-long-legs spiders are actually very venomous but they are harmless to us because their fangs are too small?

“Daddy long legs” can refer to two different arachnids: harvestmen and cellar spiders. Let’s address both:

Harvestmen (Order Opiliones): These are commonly referred to as daddy long legs in some regions. Harvestmen are not spiders, although they are arachnids. They do not produce venom and are not considered poisonous. While they have fangs, these are not used for injecting venom into their prey. Harvestmen are harmless to humans and do not pose any significant threat.
Cellar Spiders (Family Pholcidae): In some places, cellar spiders are also called daddy long legs. These spiders are not considered medically significant to humans. While they do possess venom, it is not potent enough to harm humans. Moreover, their fangs are too small and fragile to pierce human skin effectively.

In summary, neither harvestmen nor cellar spiders commonly referred to as daddy long legs are considered dangerous to humans. They do not pose a threat in terms of toxicity or venomous bites.

No. I was part of a team that milked Pholicidae, known as Cellar spiders, Carpenter spiders, Vibrating spiders, grandaddy long legs, or Skull spiders. These spiders are deadly to prey; they are araneomorph spiders.

Are daddy long legs poisonous?

In other words, their chelicerae (fangs) point forward in a pinching bite rather than a mygalomorph where they tell straight down. Most spiders you meet are Araneomorphs. As an Araneomorph, the capability to bite with success is prevalent. The ‘daddy long legs’ has long been regarded as the most venomous spider if only it could pierce your skin.

They can. , The subject felt the bite in our experiment, although it was little more than an itch. The venom produced was enough to give the urge to scratch. That’s it. The venom we milked was on par with the common house spider (Tegeneria domestica). The myth that they are deadly is debunked.

Years of research have finally put to bed the myth that daddy’s long legs are the most venomous spider; I know; I took part. They can bite, but the myth falls short; they, like most spiders, are highly reluctant to bite, and yes, some cannot pierce the skin, but believe me, a vast majority of ‘cellar spiders’ are competent.

The venom, we found that some toxins are produced by the Sydney Funnel web spider, one of nature’s actual human killers, but the toxin is ‘watered down’ depending on the prey. Atrax robustus, or Sydney funnel web, has adapted to live in an environment where venom rules, unlike the spiders we are used to.

Are daddy long legs poisonous?

Pholicidae. Daddy’s long legs, is she dangerous? Yep. To insects, the venom of this little beauty is nowhere near enough to worry us humans. Can they bite through the skin? Yes. But it isn’t peculiarit’s. So, in conclusion, and to answer the question, it’s true they are venomous; all spiders are venomous.

Can she bite? The myth is that her fangs are too small. Not so. She can and will bite if she feels threatened. It’s tough to get her to bite, as with most spiders, but bite she will. You may not feel it, but that venom will lay out a mouse with no problem. Their fangs are small, but they’re like tiny hypodermic needles.
So, to re-iterate, Daddy’s long legs can bite humans; the venom, however, has little to no effect on humans. 😁

This is one of the most pervasive urban myths in America. It has been asked and debunked 100s of thousands of times.
But it also depends on what you mean by Daddy’s long legs. There are two arachnids that Americans call Daddy Long Legs.
If you mean Harvestman (what most Americans call Daddy Long Legs or Grand Daddy Long Legs), then no, they do not have any means of biting humans. They are a special kind of arachnid, but do not have fangs or venom and do not kill or eat insects. They eat leaf litter, fungi, and molds.

If you mean Cellar Spiders (what some Americans call Daddy Long Legs), t
then still no. This common home arachnid can bite. But they are not aggressive, and depending on where they try to bite a human, they may not be able to penetrate the skin. Even if they do, their venom is not very potent, similar to a mosquito bite or sweat bee sting.

My coworker said Daddy Longlegs is the most poisonous spider on the planet, but its mouth isn’t big enough to bite. Is this true?

Firstly, “poisonous” doesn’t mean what you think it means. What your coworker means to say is “venomous.” A poisonous animal is only dangerous if it’s ingested. An animal injects its venom through a bite, sting, or other means. So, what your coworker means to say is “venomous.”

Several animals could be called “daddy long legs.” The statement made by your coworker is still wrong in any case, but we’ll explore why for each of them. “Daddy long leg” can refer to either arachnids of the order Opilliones, cellar spiders of the family Pholcidae, or crane flies. Of these three potentials, only one is a spider.

Opilliones

These arachnids are often called “Daddy longlegs.” They look a bit like spiders but aren’t spiders at all: they’re in an entirely different arachnid order than the spiders. They do not possess venom or fangs that could pierce human skin, so neither claim from your coworker holds up for these guys.

Pholcidae Cellar Spiders

These are spiders, which are very common in cellars and garages. They are sometimes called “Daddy longlegs” because they have long legs. These spiders do, of course, possess venom. They also have fangs, which are long enough to pierce human skin. However, they aren’t dangerous as their venom is more negligible than a bee sting. The Mythbusters tested the “Daddy longlegs are dangerous but can’t break human skin” myth you’re describing, and they used these spiders in testing. They found they can pierce human skin, but their venom isn’t dangerous.

Crane Flies

These flies are sometimes called “Daddy longlegs” because of their long legs. However, they aren’t spiders or even arachnids (and they aren’t mosquitos either, even though people mistake them for mosquitos). They have no means of biting people and don’t possess venom, so the myth is wrong for these “Daddy longlegs,” too.

So, your coworker needs to be corrected on this point. Yet somehow, this myth won’t die!

Are daddy long-leg spiders poisonous but can’t bite you?

No — that’s purely a myth. Cellar spiders, or daddy longlegs, can bite humans, but while they do have venom, it’s barely potent enough to kill insects, so it’s utterly harmless to us. (They are also very timid and would much rather escape, so bites are rare.)

Long-bodied cellar spider:

Now, some people call the harvestman “daddy longlegs,” but a) it’s not even an actual spider (spiders have segmented bodies; the harvestman does not), and b) it’s not evil at all.

Harvestman:

Do harvestmen or daddy long legs spiders stay in one room for a long time?

I’m going to answer this with a personal anecdote.

So for about a week or two, I don’t know how long exactly, I didn’t count, there was this baby daddy longleg spider. It was cozily nestled in a corner where two walls and the ceiling meet in the stairway to my basement.

Every time I walked past it for a couple of days, I debated whether or not to murder it because I was a bit wary of it, seeing as how spiders just creep me the fuck out, but after a while, it matured, and so did my view on him(her?).

I realized he wasn’t a threat to me since I only walked past where he lived, so I casually said hello to him as I carried clothes to and from the washroom in my basement. I experienced his entire life cycle. When I first saw him, he was small. Like, small.

Then, as the days flew by, I noticed he wasn’t small anymore but looked like a full-grown spider.

Recently, though, I noticed he wasn’t there anymore. I figured he had either wandered off, died, or found a new home because of his size and the crampedness of the corner.

I named him after a Uruk from Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I called him Nazkúga, after Nazkúga of the Spiders.

So yeah, they go away after a while.

Can daddy’s long legs bite humans?

Referring to harvestmen:

No, but also…kind of. They do not have fangs, so they do not pierce and inject venom. Instead, they seem to nibble and scrape at stuff and then eat the little bits that come loose. Dead skin cells on your arm, for instance.

But that’s not their first choice, from my experience; this may only be true of some species.

I had about twenty of them inside my tent at one point, courtesy of a failed zipper. For the first few weeks, they only seemed interested in me as an obstacle to traverse, and in fact, they wouldn’t even do that unless I was sitting still, e.g., reading.

I observed one lugging around a dead crane fly (Did it also kill it? I’m not sure). Another had some tiny bug. Others carried unidentifiable chunks of this or that. Frequently, they would work their way with a motion like a vacuum cleaner, eating residues and tiny particles.

Having fixed my zipper, I left them alone to handle my housekeeping. Eventually, I began to encounter weakened, probably dehydrated (I didn’t consider that possibility at the time) individuals. I should have taken them outside at that point, but they’re almost impossible to catch without breaking legs off, so I just let them be, figuring the population would gradually adjust to match the reduced influx of bugs. Maybe some good ol’ cannibalism. I don’t know.

Can daddy’s long legs bite humans?

Then, one night, I felt the tickling sensation of one wandering across my foot. I thought nothing of it because they were always bumbling across me on their way to wherever. Then, there was a slight pinch akin to tugging on a strand of hair on your arm. Confused, I leaned forward and saw one doing its vacuuming motion on my toe.

I observed for a moment to confirm, and that little guy was trying to eat my toe or at least something on my toe. I prodded it away.

A day or two later, one nibbled at my forearm. Then I woke up one night to discomfort as another one chewed on my inner elbow.

In all three cases, I had been sitting still. I had been sitting still many times before as one crawled across me with no biting/scraping/chewing, and then this started, three instances over just a few days.

Were they desperate for food? Had they been doing it while I slept, and I was only now tuning in? Were they attracted to the moisture on my skin after spending weeks in my dry, hot tent? I don’t know. Maybe I was well-seasoned by a population explosion of some fungus or tasty bacteria due to the warm, humid weather. It’s hard to say.

Can daddy’s long legs bite humans?

It is the first time I have ever shared my private space with a sizeable population of them, so I can’t say how widespread this behavior might be. Like all creatures, they’re bound to try new things if starving.

Roaches – various of the dark/black ones, especially – will also nibble at your skin if they’re desperate. Occasionally, even if they’re not. A black cricket has never bitten me, but brown crickets (light-colored, rounded backs, more upright posture) will not hesitate to chew if you’re not paying attention, even if they’re not starving and desperate.

Any of several more minor bugs bite when they’re underneath your clothes. I am pretty sure this is about being smashed against your skin and lashing out in a panic, although it IS common for a bug to look for an excellent combination of food and shelter, so…

On a side note, ticks. $&_&$@; ticks. Adults of multiple varieties have an interesting escape mechanism that can make them very difficult to track down when they’re under your clothes: As soon as they realize their cover is blown, they retract their legs and fall, grabbing on somewhere else on the way down. The effect is you check, don’t find a tick, and then five minutes later, you feel it crawling again. You start to think it’s just psychological…but is it? $&&_# ticks.

Are daddy long-leg spiders poisonous but can’t bite you?

Long-bodied cellar spider:

Now, some people call the harvestman “daddy longlegs,” but a) it’s not even an actual spider (spiders have segmented bodies; the harvestman does not), and b) it’s not evil at all.

Do harvestmen or daddy long legs spiders stay in one room for a long time?

I’m going to answer this with a personal anecdote.

Recently, though, I noticed he wasn’t there anymore. I figured he had either wandered off, died, or found a new home because of his size and the crampedness of the corner.

I named him after a Uruk from Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I called him Nazkúga, after Nazkúga of the Spiders.

So yeah, they go away after a while.

Have daddy long-leg spiders killed anyone?

Pholcidae. Aka, daddy, long legs, cellar spider, carpenter, skull spider, vibrating Spider. These little chaps don’t produce silk, don’t spin webs, and don’t use webs to catch prey. They are very dangerous, but only to their prey. These spiders do not possess large enough or strong enough fangs to pierce human skin. Hold one in your hands, and it won’t even attempt to give it a try. Not a creature to fear, contrary to belief, they have never killed anyone; it’s impossible and implausible.

Do daddy’s long legs not bite people?

It depends on which critter you’re calling “daddy longlegs.”

Both cellar spiders and harvestmen are frequently called daddy longlegs. Cellar spiders can bite but are not prone to, being shy and passive by nature. Their bite is also harmless, as their venom is weak.

With their non-segmented bodies, Harvestmen are not spiders at all and, having no fangs, are literally incapable of biting people.

Related

What should I do if a daddy longlegs bites me?

Nothing,

If they can even bite you ( which most aren’t ), they are not evil.

Cellar Spiders ( Daddy Long Legs ) are often seen as the most venomous spiders on Earth.

This comes from the fact that people observed Cellar Spiders eating Black Widow spiders.

Naturally, they thought, hmmmm, they must be more venomous then.

They aren’t. Don’t even stress about it!

Interestingly, the Cellar Spider has one of the weakest webs. However, it has very long legs and is quite agile; this gives it the advantage of being able to outmaneuver the other spider and spam it with webs till it is immobile.

BONUS FACT:

Ever wonder why a Cellar Spider Vibrates and shakes when you touch it?

It is a defense mechanism; predators struggle to see the spider when it shakes.

Are daddy legs spiders?

I know it is the daddy’s long legs, which were very common on the East Coast. They are harmless and, for whatever reason, less bothersome than spiders.

They are called “harvestman” and are arachnids, but not true spiders.

Is the Daddy legs spider the most poisonous spider in the world but also the least evil because it doesn’t have fangs to bite?

All spiders have fangs and venom. “Daddy longlegs” is a colloquial name that can refer to any of three very different arthropods. Only the middle one below is a spider.

Are daddy legs spiders or insects?

As others have said. There are three types of arthropods called daddy longlegs. I’ve pictured their classifications here (and in previous posts). Only the one on the right is an insect; only the one in the middle is a spider. When I was growing up, we called only the harvestmen by this name. It wasn’t until I moved to Georgia that I heard the same name used for the spider and crane fly. I have yet to hear of any mommy longlegs.

My coworker said Daddy Longlegs is the most poisonous spider on the planet, but its mouth isn’t big enough to bite. Is this true?

Originally Answered: My coworker said Daddy Longlegs is the most poisonous spider on the planet, but its mouth isn’t big enough to bite. Is this true?

Here is your answer from the University of California:

Daddy Long Legs Myth

Have you heard this one?

Daddy-Longlegs are one of the most poisonous spiders, but their fangs are too short to bite humans.

This tale has been lurking around for years. I have heard it repeatedly in the United States and even listened to a schoolteacher misinforming her class at a museum in Brisbane, Australia. This is incorrect, but to clarify it, several points need to be explained first.

The animals

Most folks who retell this tale do no know they are referring to two groups of animals: “daddy-longlegs” and “daddy-longlegs spiders.” In the animal class Arachnida, several lower-level divisions are called Orders. Scorpions are in the Order Scorpiones; spiders are in the Order Araneae, and ticks and mites are in the Order Acari.

The creatures most correctly called daddy-longlegs are in their separate Order, Opiliones. Common names for this Order are 1) daddy-longlegs, 2) harvestmen, and 3) opilionids. They are characterized by having one primary body segment, which shows segmentation on the posterior portion, at most two eyes, and all eight legs attached to the pill-like body segment.

They are usually found under logs and rocks and prefer moist habitats. However, they can be found in the desert and often have long, flexible legs (in the temperate Northern hemisphere, but there are also short-legged daddy-longlegs). They do not produce silk, so they are never found in webs unless spiders eat them. Because they are found under logs and other stuff that people often need to turn over, most folks don’t usually run into daddy-longlegs.

Another creature, often called Daddy-longlegs, is a spider. These long-legged spiders are in the family Pholcidae. Previously, the common name of this family was the cellar spiders. Still, arachnologists have also given them the moniker “daddy-longlegs spiders” because of the confusion generated by the general public.

Because these arachnids are spiders, they have two body essential body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen), have eight eyes most often clumped together in the front of the body; the abdomen shows no evidence of segmentation, have eight legs all attached to the front-most body part (the cephalothorax) and make webs out of silk.

Are daddy long legs poisonous?

This is the animal to which people refer when they tell the tale because these spiders are plentiful, especially in cellars (hence their common name), and commonly seen by the general public. The most common pholcid spiders found in U.S. homes are both European immigrants.

Pholcus phalangioides is a uniformly grey spider with a rectangular, elongated abdomen and is found throughout the U.S. Holocnemus pluchei also has a rectangular, long abdomen but has a brown stripe on the ventral side (the belly side – which is typically directed upwards since the spider hangs upside down in its web) which covers its sternum and is a stripe on the abdomen. These spiders are prevalent along the Pacific Coast. And into the southwest deserts.

Possible envenomation

Is there any truth to this oft-repeated tale?

Daddy-longlegs (Opiliones) – these arachnids live by eating decomposing vegetative and animal matter, although they are opportunist predators if they can escape it. They do not have venom glands, fangs, or other mechanisms for chemically subduing their food. Therefore, they do not have poison and, by the powers of logic, cannot be poisonous from venom. Some have defensive secretions that might be poisonous to small animals if ingested. So, for these daddy-long-legs, the tale is false.

Daddy-longlegs spiders (Pholcidae) – Here, the myth is incorrect, at least in making claims that have no basis in known facts. There is no reference to any pholcid spider biting a human and causing any detrimental reaction. If these spiders were deadly poisonous but couldn’t bite humans, then we would only know they are contaminated by milking them and injecting them into humans.

This research has never been done for various reasons, including Amnesty International and a humanitarian code of ethics. Furthermore, no toxicological studies are testing the lethality of pholcid venom on any mammalian system (usually done with mice). Therefore, no information is available on the likely toxic effects of their venom in humans, so the part of the myth about their being incredibly poisonous is just that: a myth. There is no scientific basis for supposing they are deadly toxic, and there is no reason to assume it is true.

Are daddy long legs poisonous?

What about their fangs being too short to penetrate human skin? Pholcids have sharp fangs, which in arachnological terms is called “uncate” because they have a secondary tooth that meets the fang, like how the two grabbing parts of a pair of tongs come together.

Brown recluse spiders similarly have uncate fang structures and can bite humans. There may be a difference in the musculature that houses the fang, such that recluses have stronger muscles for penetration because they are hunting spiders needing to subdue prey. In contrast, pholcid spiders can wrap their prey and don’t need as strong a musculature. So, again, the myth states as fact something about which there is no scientific basis.

In summary

The myth is undoubtedly false for true daddy-long-legs, the opilionids, and the daddy-long-legs spiders; it is certainly not based on known facts.

Are Daddy’s long legs dangerous?

You could not possibly imagine… imagination… imagination…dreams! Believe how dangerous they are. They are ‘EVIL’. You know, sometimes when you’re out in the fields, the summer Sun warms the cockles, the distant purr of a lawnmower permeates the still, buzzing air.

A gentle breeze…a warm breeze…brushes your shoulders; you can hear the unmistakable sound of bees searching for nectar, and the grass sways in the warm summer breeze. But what’s this? Wow, t’is a flutterby…I mean butterfly. It flutters around you, its wings shimmering in the golden haze of the setting Sun; nearby, an owl hoots as you turn, and suddenly, the flat…butterfly lands in your palm. Well, that’s how dangerous a daddy’s long legs are! Get a grip!

Are Daddy’s long legs dangerous?

There are three different animals nicknamed daddy longlegs. None of them is dangerous to humans.

Are Daddy’s long legs friendly?

It depends on how you define friendly.

They

aren’t going to run up to you like a dog or cat and demand to be petted, but they aren’t aggressive either.

Friendliness is an evolutionary tactic that makes animals stay together for increased chances of survival. Animals like wolves are “friendly” with each other as they can hunt more efficiently in a pack, and herd animals such as horses are “friendly” with each other as they can be better protected when they are together.

An animal such as a daddy’s long legs can hunt efficiently and defend itself reasonably from most threats, too*. This means it has no reason to develop emotional attachments to others. They are just happy to sit in the corner of a room and catch household pests such as fruit flies and gnats.

*I say most threats because they are entirely harmless to humans and cannot protect themselves if a human decides to attack them. Please don’t do this; there is no need to be violent toward them.

Why are some daddy-long legs not considered spiders and others are when they all have eight legs? What is the difference between them?

‘Daddy Long Legs’ is a common name (not a scientific name, or a binomial name) given to:

1 order of arachnid (opiliones)
1 genus of spider (pholcus)
1 family of insect (tipulidae)

So, the one order of arachnid also has the common name of harvestman. Harvestman are arachnids, look like spiders, but are not spiders, and not all of them have long, spindly legs (some have short legs).

The one genus of spider is pholcus, which includes all the subspecies such as the very common pholcus phalangiodes. These spiders are also known as cellar spiders, spindly spiders and vibrating spiders. The one family of insect is tipulidae, also known as the cranefly. These flies, being insects, have only six legs, not eight, as you have suggested in your question.

Wikipedia

So the only creatures, called Daddy Long Legs, that are spiders are of the genus pholcus.

Confusing, but I hope that puts it straight.

Should you keep daddy-long-legs inside your house?

If you’re an arachnophobe, it won’t make sense to get rid of them. I’m a spider admirer, but I understand arachnophobia; they aren’t endangered, and they can give birth to a scary number of young, but in your house, they couldn’t care less about you; they don’t want confrontation; you’re bigger than they are! But they will attack some of those pesky bugs, you know, the ones that bite then flee, well, sometimes they think they’ve got away with it, when suddenly ‘WHAM!’ caught in a web…survival rating….daddy long legs attack? …zero!

Why do so many people firmly believe a daddy long-leg spider is very venomous?

I work with cellar (AKA daddy long leg) spiders, have had numerous verified (witnessed) bites by them, and helped the Mythbusters with their program on this … supplying the spiders and venom and doing the toxicity assay with their veterinarian.

The original version of this urban legend went something like this:

Daddy’s long legs have the most venom in the world, but their fangs are too short (small?) to bite and do not have enough venom to hurt us.

We presumed they were talking about daddy long-leg spiders (cellar spiders, Pholcidae), a common name for a large family of primarily tiny spiders.

We were able to show that one venom from one relatively large (for a pholcid) species:

Milked venom did not appear to be as poisonous to mice as black widow venom in a minimal set of assays
The fangs of adults of that species were long enough to bite into the superficial layers of soft, not calloused, skin
The venom could hurt, not much, but enough to feel the bite.

In the process, we disproved another myth that spiders like this must be trapped, held, or pressed against the skin to bite.

The show proved that the myth is incorrect for all daddy lonesomes. It does not prove that the myth is not valid for some species.

Back to the question:

It’s an interesting question; much research is going into why and how we learn and hang onto unproven information or fail to value myths.

To me, this is a pretty good myth. It’s just about as reasonable and feasible as many other myths we use to explain why spiders are OK and safe. It is much easier to visualize and understand than what we know from research, and people want to know even if the knowledge is incorrect or not proven to several decimal points of certainty.

We all get by on common sense, rules of thumb, religion, etc.

“No, you don’t have to worry. It’s not going to hurt you.”

“Of course, it may have poisonous venom, but it’s too small to bite and doesn’t have enough venom to hurt you.”

“Go back to bed and let me sleep. Sweet dreams.”

Works at least until the next question.

Will a spider kill you?

It’s possible but extremely unlikely.

In the US, about six people die every year from spider bites. Only a few species have medically significant bites, and those only bite in self-defense.

You are three and a half times more likely to be killed by a horse and two thousand times more likely to be killed by a primate.

Spiders are our friends. Please treat them with respect, and you have nothing to worry about.

What is impact play?

Are daddy long legs poisonous